Erase and Rewrite
by SweetSilentSteps
Summary: A Sherlock Fan-fiction This is based off a role-play I did a while back that never got very far but I fell in love with the character I created and wanted to write more about her. So here it is a Sherlock/OC fan-fiction. It's based off the BBC version of Sherlock, with the OC instead of Watson. All character relating to Sherlock Holmes belong to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
1. The Return of Maria

Chapter One; The Return of Maria

It had been a long day. Her therapist has insisted that she stay longer today, only to hover over her and watch her as she had stared blankly at the laptop screen. She was supposed to be writing a blog about everything that happened to her.

"Nothing ever happens to me," Maria murmured dully to the laptop before she shut it with a snap. She sighed, and then slowly rose to her feet, leaving the laptop on the table before hobbling her way into the small kitchen of her small apartment. She'd just been discharged from the line in Afghanistan, though she wasn't sure if she was glad to be home or not. On the battle field, she'd learnt to be on her guard, but here in the heart of London, was there need to be afraid.

_'Damn my leg,'_ Maria thought, grimacing slightly. Her therapist had chalked it up to _'it was all in her head'_ and _'trauma'_. She didn't believe a word of it though. She ruffled through a cupboard or two before realising, she needed to go shopping. She was not used to being on her own again and not having food ready for her when she needed it. Sighing she grabbed her purse and limped her way to the door.

Maria wasn't long in the store, she only grabbed a few essentials before making her way back out onto the street. That was when she bumped into someone she didn't expect.

"David," She said with a grin hugging the man.

"So you're back in this neck of the woods huh?" David said patting her on the back. He offered to walk, so she offered to talk. So they chatted as they walked along the London streets back towards her apartment. However halfway, David stopped her.

"I just happen to have a colleague that is looking for a roommate," He said, at hearing the news she was looking for a cheaper place to live. Maria looked at him.

"Really?"

"Yes. I can take you to meet them now," He declared and she quickly agreed. Someone cheaper to live would make her life a whole lot easier. David called a cab and they made their way over to…

"Your colleague works here?" Maria asked, seeing the morgue in front of her as she got out of the cab.

"Well…not really….all will be explained shortly," David said with a smile as he led her inside.

"How long has he been dead?" The man asked to the small mousy woman standing beside him. She looked down at her clipboard and pushed her glasses further back onto her face.

"Two hour at least," She said, avoiding blabbering on. She knew he hated it when people blabbered on. The man inspected the body from afar for a moment.

"Right, I'll start with the riding crop," Sherlock Holmes said before looking up at the sound of the door opening.

"It's right in here," David said, holding the door open for Maria so she could hobble in. The minute she stepped in the door, Sherlock's eyes locked onto her. It was like stepping back into a memory, a childhood memory.

"Maria." The name left his lips in a whisper, eyes scanning her face and her figure. She looked the same as the last time he had seen her, still a fiery redhead with those sparkling blue eyes that gave away as much as they hid from the world. Her stance, her posture, all the things he would ask her later, for now he could only stare. A smile came to her face.

"Sherlock Holmes. Somehow I'm not surprised to find you here," Maria said with a small shake of her head before Sherlock had pulled her into his arms, holding her close into his chest.


	2. Time with you, is time well spent

Chapter Two; Time with You, is Time well spent

For a moment, time stood still as Maria let him hold her before her arms remembered how to move to hug him back. She was lost in the moment until she heard the small woman make a noise that sounded halfway between surprise and disgust. However Maria couldn't care less as she pulled away from Sherlock just enough to look at his face.

He hadn't changed. He was still the same, an angel carved from marble.

"You almost haven't aged a day," Maria gushed with a grin, taking his face in her hands for a moment, remembering his strong jaw and how many curiosities had come from it. Sherlock gave his small fleeting smile before reaching up to remove her hands.

"Nor have you," He replied, holding her hands longer than necessary, causing the small woman to cough once again.

"Enough of that Shelly," Sherlock snapped, turning suddenly on the woman. "It doesn't become you. By the way, Maria this is Shelly the mortician, Shelly, Maria Maron, an old friend of mine." He declared. Shelly seemed surprised. Sherlock didn't have any friends, not that she knew of anyway, and she'd been working with him for a while now. And the fact he'd so willingly hugged her. She'd found out within the first week of working with him, he did not welcome touch. Just who was this woman?

"Moving on, Maria, I have some work to attend to so, excuse me, I won't be a moment and then we shall talk," He declared, turning around and moving back over to the body.

"You may want to leave, he get's quite brutal," Shelly half spat at Maria who blinked.

"I can handle it," She insisted and sat down by the door. David said his parting words before leaving Maria with Sherlock and Shelly.

After beating the body until his arm started to hurt, Sherlock took in the final details before whipping out his phone and hurriedly texting someone. He finished, put the phone in his pocket and returned to his coat and scarf which he put on with ease. He then gracefully moved over to Maria, who stood.

"We should go, I have a case to resolve before I take you home," He said easily throwing an arm around her to pull her out the door and onto the street with him. He waved down a cab before allowing her in first before following after her and asking for them to be taken to Scotland Yard.

"Since you left I have been up to many things," Sherlock answered before she could even ask. Sherlock had always been able to read a person's every thought from the way they moved, to the way they spoke. But unlike everyone else in his life, Maria was special, she was to be cherished, and she alone. No-one could read his thoughts, or eyes, like she could. She was his unquestioned equal when it came to her mind and the way she thought, just like him, but retaining her social skills.

"Oh yes?" She asked raising an eyebrow at him and he nodded.

"To put it simply I have been shot at several times, been called names, had my mother called things she is most certainly not, kidnapped once or twice, however I feel I should not elaborate too far by that look you are giving me," He said and Maria rolled her eyes.

"Still solving cases I see," She said looking over at him. He grinned at her, a smile she knew all too well. It was the smile he got whenever she had caught him red handed at something when they had been younger.

"I hear you are in need of some cheaper accommodation," Sherlock said. "My apartment is big enough for two and you are more than welcome to come join me." He stated. Even if he had had a roommate, he would have happily kicked them out for the sake of Maria staying with him. She had just returned from a war and deserved some peace of mind, and in his mind, he wanted her close by now he knew she had returned.

"Thank-you Sherlock, I appreciate it," Maria said with the smile that only ever he saw, which only brightened his heart a little more.

It wasn't long before they pulled up in front of Scotland Yard and Sherlock proceeded to pay the driver before pulling Maria out with him.

"Now, ignore everyone who tries to stop us. Our business is with the DI and no-one else." Sherlock told her before opening the door and stepping inside. He wasn't wrong when he said people would try to stop him. The minute Sherlock stepped into sight; he was blocked by people claiming he wasn't needed and that the case was solved. Maria found herself stepping closed to Sherlock, to keep him in her sight.

They headed straight down the hallway, towards what Maria supposed was the DI's office. Sherlock didn't stop until he'd reached the door and pushed it open.

"Lestrade." He said his offer of a greeting to the man behind the desk who sat up a little straighter when he saw Sherlock.

"Holmes." Lestrade replied with a small nod. Maria closed the door behind herself, blocking out the noise of the officers behind her.

"Who's this?" Lestrade asked pointing at Maria, as she stood like a statue behind Sherlock.

"An old friend. Now, the case. You're going to jail the wrong man." Sherlock said quickly sitting down in the chair across from Lestrade. He put his hands together, like he was praying, before resting his chin on top.

"What do you mean; we've got the wrong man?" Lestrade asked sounding confused. "He confessed, how does that make him the wrong man?"

Sherlock sighed.

"He was only a decoy, designed to distract us while the real murderer made off with the money from the life insurance. In short, it was his wife. She pushed the ladder when he was leaning over the guttering on the roof. When he fell the edge cut into his throat, paralysing vocal chords, but also slicing the jugular vein. If you don't believe me look at the woman's hands. The ladder had been freshly painted and paint stains are hard to get rid of easy…" Sherlock said, only pausing a few times to draw breath.

While he had spoken, Maria had moved to hover behind his chair. Lestrade had glanced at her once or twice while listening to Sherlock.

"Right…I guess I'll call the wife in again then…" Lestrade said with a small frown. As he went to stand, the door opened and in walked an olive-skinned woman with wild curly black hair.

"Ah, I thought I saw the freak walk in," She said looking at Sherlock, coldness in her eyes. Maria looked down at Sherlock, whose vivid eyes flashed for a moment before he stood.

"Ah Donovan, you never change," He said turning to look at her with a cold distain.

"And who's this?" Donovan asked nodding at Maria, who stood up a little straighter and lifted her chin high.

"My name is Maria Maron and I would prefer it if you would improve your tone when addressing myself and Sherlock, it's quite impolite of you." She said, her military authority coming through for a moment. Sherlock had to hide his smile. Donovan had no idea what she had just walked into.

Lestrade, clearly trying to break the silence, cleared his throat before mentioning they all had work to do. Sherlock quickly agreed and grabbed Maria before dragging her out the door with him.

"Who did that woman think she was?" Maria huffed, following after Sherlock as they made their way out of the Scotland Yard, being happily dogged by several officers to make sure they left.

"She's one of Lestrade's workers. Believe me, there are worse people than her on the squad." Sherlock said flipping the collar of his jacket up as they stepped outside into the bitter wind. "But enough of that, I should take you to the apartment, and perhaps we can talk about what you've been up to since your last letter."

"Of course," Maria replied with a small smile as he waved down another cab. Sherlock allowed Maria inside first, before following after her. He leaned forward and spoke to the cabby.

"221b, Baker's Street."


	3. Childhood Memories

Chapter Three; Tricks and Childhood Memories

_It had been her first day at a new school. Maria had just moved up to London from the country-side and everything was new to her. The buildings, the cabs, even the people were strange. She was scared, though, she would never admit it. She'd always been very brave and noble too. These were just a few of the few things he'd noticed about her, the moment she walked through the school gates._

_Of course, she stuck out. That fiery red hair tumbling down around her face and shoulders, her backpack, swinging off one shoulder and her eyes, the brightest blue he'd ever seen. He had to look away though. It wouldn't take her very long to walk straight past him, sitting under the giant tree right near the gates. His brother had always told him, friends were never any good to you._

_"Um, hello?" A soft melodic voice spoke from next to him and he looked up to see the girl with fiery hair standing over him. She was talking to HIM? He stumbled for words for a moment before his natural Holmes ability kicked in and he began deducing everything about her, the state of her parents' marriage, where she was from, even down to the shampoo she had used last night._

_"They've spotted you with me now; you'll be branded a freak for coming and talking with me first." He finished with, turning his head away from her. What she did next, would forever leave him in shock. She laughed and sat down next to him._

_"Well, I guess I'm screwed then," She said with a cheery laugh. "My name's Maria, by the way. But how did you do that? It was incredible!" She praised. He blinked slowly and turned to look at her._

_"You…you really think so?" He asked and she nodded. _

_"Tell me your name."_

_"Sherlock. Sherlock Holmes."_

"Sherlock?" Maria asked tapping him on the shoulder. Sherlock blinked and realised he'd gone off into a daydream. He shook his head a little then smiled slightly.

"Pardon, I was just thinking about the day we met." He admitted. Maria laughed softly.

"The one thing you couldn't deduce about me was my name," She teased elbowing him lightly and he smirked slightly.

"It was the ONLY thing. Everything else was correct was it not?" He challenged. Maria couldn't deny that, he'd always been right about everything. They fell silent, Maria looking out the window, Sherlock looking at her. Finally, he seemed to find the courage to ask.

"Maria….your leg…it's from the war right….where they shot you…" He asked cautiously, watching for her reaction. Maria's expression hardened slightly, her eyes becoming like stone, but she kept her gaze out the window.

"Y-Yes," She stuttered out, cursing her habit of stuttering when she panicked. She clenched her teeth together, to stop herself from saying more. She knew all too well his mind would be reeling now trying to cover all the possibilities of what she was thinking. But what he actually did surprised her.

One long fingered hand reached over the space between them to gently take her hand. Sherlock couldn't possibly fathom the idea of anyone drawing a gun on her, an army medic just simply doing her job. He formed a fist with his other hand. Feeling pressure on her hand, she turned to look at him, to see his dark expression, the anger in his eyes.

"Sherlock, there is no reason to be angry…"  
"And there was no reason for them to gun down a medic trying to do her job." He shot back, casting his eyes to the floor to avoid her gaze.

"You knew when I left for the army, that I was taking a risk. You knew, Sherlock, you knew there always was a chance I would never make it back and if I did I would be different." Maria said firmly, finding herself clutching his hand. Sherlock looked up at her only to see one perfect tear rolling down her cheek.

Maria never cried.

Instantly, like a flood wall had been removed, he felt remorse for his words. He reached over with his free hand and removed the evidence of her moment of weakness from her face. She'd always been the brave one, the strong one. People had beaten him down, tormented him, ridiculed him for all of his life, but Maria, Maria was his rock. She was the wall between them and him. She's always stood beside him, never fearing what might come.

"I shouldn't have brought this up so soon….this was supposed to be a more joyous occasion. I apologise."

Maria sighed gently then reached over and ruffled his hair gently, just like she'd done when they were younger.

"If I hadn't been shot Sherlock, I'd still be there. You should be happy, I'm back and I'm alive and well." She said, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a smile that only he would know. Sherlock noted the smile, which lifted his spirits slightly.

"I missed you."

"I know."

The cab finally pulled up into front of an apartment building. She immediately noted the well thought-out placement of the building. There was a café nearby, and the library and court rooms were not far. However, night was already beginning to fall and the lights were on in the houses around.

"Welcome to 221b, Bakers Street," Sherlock said with a grin that caused tiny creases in the corner of his eyes, a smile Maria had missed. They stepped out and Sherlock proceeded over to the door.

"Now I must warn you about the land-lady-" He began opening the door only to be cut off by a woman yelling his name.

"Sherlock! Where on earth have you been? I just saw the news!" The small Scottish-accented woman cried, seeing them walk in.

"Hello Mrs Hudson." He greeted slowly, pulling off his scarf as the small woman babbled on. "Mrs Hudson, I would like you to meet Maria Maron, she's interested sharing the flat I'm in." He explained over the woman's noise. She stopped suddenly and looked at Maria.

"Of course, of course!" Mrs Hudson said before ushering them upstairs. She began babbling on about the flat, other tenants and of course Sherlock.

"Maybe with a lady in his life, he'll stop all those experiments at 4am." She said with a side glance at Sherlock, who hid the faint tinge that reached his cheeks. Maria blinked.

"We're honestly just old friends," Maria explained, however she felt like the woman was assuming just a bit too much about their relationship.

"Its fine Dear, you don't have to say anymore," She said with a friendly smile before she opened the door to the apartment. Sherlock instantly realised he should have cleaned up before inviting Maria over. There were stacks of paper everywhere, books lying open, a chemistry set laid out on the table.

"Well. The place could use a little cleaning…" Maria joked, elbowing Sherlock gently who turned a darker shade of pink.

"I-I should tidy it I guess…" He mumbled before moving over to a pile of papers and straightening them out a bit, moving them off the furniture so she could sit. Maria moved further into the room looking around, taking it in.

"What do you think?" Sherlock asked, offering her the chair.

"I think it's a lovely place." She replied moving over and sitting down in the offered chair. Mrs Hudson proceeded to babble on about papers and the like before Sherlock interrupted her.

"We are both very tired Mrs Hudson, can it wait until tomorrow?"

"Oh right! Of course Sherlock. Rest well!" She said with a farewell wave to Maria before Sherlock shut the door. He sighed then collapsed onto the red velvet couch.

"She sure is a chatty one." Maria said with a shaky laugh, rubbing the back of her head. Sherlock nodded.

"You don't mind if I stay here for the night, do you? It would be somewhat of a hassle for me to go home right now." Maria asked and Sherlock turned his head to look at her.

"Of course not. I'll show you your room." He said, picking himself up off the couch before removing his coat and throwing it down on the couch. "This way milady." He said with a soft chuckle. Maria rolled her eyes and stood, slowly limping after him. Sherlock cast his eyes back on her. He decided then and there, he would make her forget about the war and all her troubles.

She'd fought enough out on the battle field and he didn't deem it fair for her to continue her fight after returning home. She was battling against her mind and her own body and if he could, he would take away all her pain. Sherlock stopped in front of the door, pushing it open for her.

It was a spacious room, with a window overlooking the street, a wardrobe, a cabinet and a double bed pushed up against the wall. She would be able to look at the sky out the window when she lay in bed. Maria smiled and slowly limped into the room.

"It's perfect Sherlock." She said turning to him with an honest smile.

"You may want to get some sleep; we have work to do tomorrow, moving all your stuff for one thing, and sorting out paperwork and the likes." He said and she nodded.

"Thanks. Goodnight Sherlock." Maria said and he closed the door with a smile. Maria turned back to the bed and sat down on it. She hadn't told Sherlock about the nightmares yet, but she prayed for one night they would leave her alone; let her sleep in peace for once. Sighing, she laid back and closed her eyes.

Out in the living room, Sherlock had picked up his violin and started to play a soft, sweet tune.


	4. The Nightmare

Hey guys, Steps here, I would just like to say that I'm having so much fun writing this story and that I'm so happy there are people out there who like my writing :D If you want me to keep going with this, please leave a review and tell me what you think, it really helps inspire me to continue writing this! I'm trying my best to write chapters ahead of time so I can keep releasing them for you guys to read when I get the chance, should my school life take over and I don't get the time to write them. So once again, please leave a review and follow if you've liked it so far!

Cheers, SweetSilentSteps :)

* * *

Chapter Four; The Nightmare

As Maria's eyes fluttered shut, for a moment in time she thought she may have at least some good dreams. But, this of course was not so. She flinched and rolled onto her side as the nightmare took hold on her subconscious. She grasped the blankets tightly within her hands as she flinched slightly. She could remember it all clearly; the dream was all too real for her.

The sound of the gunshot's firing, the explosions in the distance, the way time seemed to slow down as she looked up to see the sniper aimed at her. The last moment of pain as the bullet dug itself firmly within her leg, the sniper being knocked at the last moment. It was lucky, had he not been hit, she would probably be dead. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to be dead, there would be no more pain…but…she knew that death was never a way out.  
The silence of the night was broken by a scream. Not a blood curdling one, but more one by a terrified woman who'd just woken up from a horrible nightmare. There was the sound of something heavy coming down the hallway in a hurry before Maria appeared at the door to the living room. At the sound of her scream, Sherlock had dropped his violin onto the couch and had started to head for her, but she however got to him first.

She was panting, the sweat on her face clear even in the dying light of the outside street lamps. She ran a hand through the red tangled mess that was her hair then leaned against the door frame.

"Oh God…." She said. She was so far out of it, the nightmare rocking on her already unstable nerves. The impact of being home and safe was not enough to ease her into a state of calmness. Tears formed in her eyes as her knees buckled and she landed on the ground. Within a heartbeat, Sherlock was there, next to her on his knees, bringing the woman into his arms.

"Sherlock…" She whimpered, pressing her face into his warm chest.

"I've got you," He murmured into her auburn hair gently rubbing comforting circles on her arm with his thumb. _'Damn fool! You should have known about this happening!'_ Sherlock swore at himself as he held Maria closer to him. Maria bit down hard on her lip, forcing the tears to stop before they could fall. She was not going to show her weakness in front of Holmes.

"I…I…" Maria stuttered out and Sherlock hushed her. He moved and kissed her forehead before resting his own against it.

"What do you want me to do?" Sherlock asked his voice low. He would do anything she asked of him; she made him feel needed and wanted. Maria bit her lip, pressing her face back into his chest for a moment. Finally she mumbled;

"Stay….stay with me….please…at least until I fall asleep…"

Sherlock abided. Gently he picked her up bridal style, with strength Maria had no idea where he stored, and carried her back to her room. He placed her down back on her bed, before turning out all the lights. He returned to her and sat on the bed beside her. Maria wondered for a moment if she was selfish for asking this of him but she was partly too tired to care. Sherlock sat up against the headboard, Maria cuddling into his side. She closed her eyes again as the low thrum of his voice sung her to sleep again.

Sherlock waited until he was sure she was asleep before he moved. He leaned down and pressed another soft kiss to her head before he returned to the living room. He wouldn't sleep; he knew this already so he got himself a drink before returning to the lounge room to being sorting out paperwork and cleaning the place up a bit, for Maria's

sake. It came around to 5am when he picked up his violin again and began to play.

* * *

The National Art Gallery – 5:00am

The guard strolled down the white-washed walled corridor, with artworks hanging in regular intervals on either side. His shoes made a _'click-clacky'_ noise as he walked along, flashlight swinging left and right in his slightly swaggering walk. A small noise made him stop and turn for a moment, but nothing appeared to be there. He turned and kept going, not noticing the shadowed figure coming up behind him.

The guard paused at the end of the dead-end corridor and turned to go back down again. He didn't have a second to comprehend what was going on, before his throat was slashed and his dead body hit the floor with a thunk. The figure looked down at their work before removing a painting from the wall and setting it neatly on the ground before pulling out another painting from their bag; hanging it in the empty place on the wall. After finishing their work, the figure left, leaving the body to be found.

* * *

Back at 221b Baker's Street, Maria woke to the sound of a violin playing far off. She groaned softly before rolling onto her back and forcing herself to sit up. She glanced over at the clock on the wall, on which she could just barely make out the time.

"Sherlock, its 5am!" She shouted before putting a pillow over her face and collapsing back onto the bed. Sherlock stopped playing and wandered into her room.

"I apologise Maria. I will need time to get used to not living alone," He said as she removed the pillow from her face to look at him with an evil look.

"Normal people need sleep,"  
"I'm not normal, and neither are you."

"Make me some coffee and I may forgive you then." Maria said and he laughed softly before moving off to fulfil her request. She pushed herself up, throwing her pillow back before she got up and followed him out into the kitchen. She went to the fridge and opened it, her eyes half focusing. Her eyes suddenly snapped into focus and she slammed the fridge shut again.

"What?" Sherlock questioned, glancing over at her as he made her coffee. Maria didn't speak for a moment.

"There's a head in the fridge. A **_human head _**in the **_fridge_**…." She emphasised looking at him. "Why is there a head in the fridge?!"

Sherlock blinked at her.

"It's an experiment." He said simply before pouring her coffee and setting it down on the table. Maria sat down and quickly picked it, blowing away some of the steam before taking a sip.

"I swear Sherlock," She said before she laughed. "Only you could answer so causally about something like that…" She broke down into more laughter and Sherlock looked slightly confused.

"Lack of sleep does not suit you well Maria," He commented. Maria looked at him. He wasn't wrong about that. When she got tired, she got really giggly about everything, even a head in the fridge. After a few moments, Sherlock glided back out into the living room to return once again to his violin. He started off playing a wonderful melody, the likes of which Maria had never heard before. But as time wore on, he turned to plucking at the strings, seeming just to keep himself amused.

Maria had finished up her coffee and plonked herself down haphazardly in a chair in the living room, playing around with the settings on Sherlock's phone, setting a ringtone for herself when she rung him. Suddenly in her hand the phone buzzed and up popped a message from Lestrade.

"Incident at the art gallery, hurry, LS." Maria repeated to Sherlock who looked over at her.

"It must be important for him to text me this early in the morning." Sherlock said rising to his feet. Maria offered him his phone which he took before walking off to his room to get dressed. Maria pulled herself from the chair and straightened out her clothes. She hadn't brought anything else to wear so her jeans and loose shirt would have to make do.

She had to wonder though, what kind of incident could this possibly be? She was curious of course. She picked up Holmes's coat off the couch and absently threw it around her shoulders, putting her arms through the sleeves. It was so big on her that the bottom of it dragged along the ground when she took a few steps. But it smelled just like him, herbal tea mixed in old parchment. She smiled faintly.

Maria turned to examine the painted smiley face on the wall, which looked like it had been shot at several times. She didn't even want to know where he had gotten a gun from. That was when Sherlock cleared his throat from behind her. She turned around and grinned at him.

"I believe that is my coat," He said walking over to her. Maria just grinned like a child at him.

"It's so big," She said before taking it off and handing it to him. He pulled it on before his trademark scarf. He glanced at her.

"You'll need your coat." He declared picking it up from the back of the chair she'd throw it over. Maria looked confused.

"What?"

"I want you to come with me Maria. I know it may be too much to ask of you, but I want you to solve cases with me, I'll need you to help me deal with all the dogs." Though it had always been his intention to keep Maria out of danger, no-one else could keep up with him like she could. Maria looked at him for a moment, weighting up her thoughts. Then she smiled and took the coat.

"Let it be like old times right?" She said with a grin, slipping into her coat and buttoning it up. "Let's go."


	5. Blood and Trinkets

Chapter Five; Blood and Trinkets

Sherlock and Maria clambered into a cab and began their journey to The National Art Gallery. Sherlock seemed to go off into his own world, so Maria just took to staring out the window for the short trip. The cab hit the curb, the cabbie announcing their arrival at their destination. With a small smile, Maria found some money within her own purse to pay the man before ushering Sherlock from the cab and onto the sidewalk in front of the art gallery.

She looked up at it with slight awe, having only ever passed this building in her younger years, never actually having been inside. With a quick smirk to herself she set off forwards gently pushing open the door. The lobby was empty, a desk over in the far corner, the door to the gallery beyond beside the chair that looked like it had been abandoned in a hurry not long ago. What lay beyond, she didn't know, but she was soon going to find out.  
Sherlock headed for the door and starting down the winding corridors; towards the soft voices they could hear far off. Maria followed after him like a faithful puppy, keeping close instep behind him. At coming upon the crime scene, Maria's first instinct was to slink away; quietly and un-heard.  
The man lay, spread eagled on the ground, his throat sliced clean open. The blood around him was starting to dry and crack but even from that distance Maria could tell that it had dripped down both sides of his neck and onto the floor. She repressed a shudder quickly.

The expression the man wore was one of shock, like as if he hadn't seen nor heard his attacker before it was too late to save himself. His torch lay inches from his outstretched fingers, having fallen from his hand. But there was one other strange mystery to the scene. From what Maria could tell, nothing had been taken from the corridor. However there were officers buzzing around the scene like flies.  
Sherlock was quick to take in the details of the scene, Maria following after him, tearing her eyes away from the dead man. Lestrade walked over to them.

"What do you make of this?" He asked the taller man. Sherlock turned around to glance at the body before he stooped down, placing a hand here, searching though a pocket there, before standing and moving over to the painting on the wall. Maria however had returned her gaze to the man on the ground. She was no Holmes but she was already taking in some details of her own.

"Maria." Sherlock's voice broke through her thoughts. "Do you think you could look over the body?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. That was when a voice broke out from the rabble.

"I believe that's my job." A tall man said stepping forth. Sherlock sighed.

"Anderson, you're lowering the IQ of the entire street. Lestrade, I won't work with Anderson, however Maria here is a trained army doctor," He said before Anderson started to protest.

"Anderson, shut it, your ego can take another blow if it solves this case quicker!" Lestrade quipped and Anderson fell silent. Sherlock waved for Maria to step forwards as he himself stepped back as to give her more room to work. Maria knelt down beside the body and as if she had a checklist she began.

"Man in his late thirties, married, regular drinker…" She began before moving in closer to the body. "A small knife was used, the wounds long but only just deep enough to reach the jugular." She pulled looked into the man's staring eyes. "He had no idea this was coming, he was taken by surprise. Why though?" Maria questioned. "Time of death, roughly...4am, 5 am?" The Yard, who were standing around watching her, looked stunned. With just a few moments she had deduced all that about the man. Sherlock however felt proud. Maria was as smart as she was beautiful.

"Perfect Maria, also I believe this painting has something do with it," Sherlock said and Maria limped over to him and looked at it with him.

"It's the crime-"

"- scene in perfect detail," Sherlock finished for her and she looked at him. They were on the same wavelength, the rest of the yard however had very little clueless as to what was going on.

"Lestrade!" Sherlock said turning to the DI who looked up at him. "This painting, I'll need to examine it."

"In other words he wants to take it," Maria said and Lestrade frowned.

"I can't let you take evidence."

"Then let us take a paint sample, if we can find out where the paint used was bought at least that's a start to a lead," Maria said and Lestrade sighed. He called Anderson over to get them a slide on which they could take a sample of paint. Sherlock carved a bit off and proceeded to pocket it.

"I need to go think over this," Sherlock said as he started away from the scene. Maria went to follow him but Lestrade stopped her, he saw an opportunity to speak to the mysterious woman.

"I've worked with Sherlock for a while now and I've never heard him praise someone like that. Just who are you?" He asked curiously. Maria smiled softly.

"I'm no-one really. I grew up with him and he taught me a thing or two about deducing things. For a time, I was all he had. I'm glad you seem to trust him, a lot of people used to just use him. However, you seem like a good person." Maria said and Lestrade blundered through a thank-you. She smiled again then went to leave but he stopped her again.

"It's rare to talk to a true friend of Holmes. Sherlock is a great man, and someday, if we are very, very lucky, he'll be a good one." He said before turning and walking away, leaving her standing there for a moment before Sherlock came back around the corner to see what was taking her so long. Seeing her standing there, lost in her own thoughts, he placed a hand on the small of her back and began to lead her from the scene.

"Shall we go get your stuff from your apartment?" He suggested and Maria nodded.

"It'll take a few trips though, I don't think the cabby's will be very pleased about becoming a moving van," Maria said with a soft chuckle and Sherlock joined her.

"We'll ask Mrs Hudson to drive her car over instead," He suggested and she agreed. It was the best course of action. With a few clicks on his phone, Sherlock sent the address to Mrs Hudson to meet them. They stepped outside into the crisp air and Sherlock went to hail a cab but Maria stopped him.

"Let's walk," She said. "My apartment isn't very far and riding around in cabs all the time isn't really my thing."

Sherlock looked down at her then smiled slightly. "Alright then," He said, throwing a casual arm around her shoulders before they started off walking.

There was a barrier around her, that Holmes had put there himself, to protect her from those who would harm her. He would protect her; he would keep her safe, no matter what he had to do. He looked down at her.

_'Forever the faithful watch dog…'_ He thought to himself before his mind went back to all they had discovered at the crime scene. It took him a few moments before he realised Maria was talking.

"—I was thinking about maybe getting some ingredients and making pasta, but you know what I'm like with an oven." She said with a giggle looking up at him. Sherlock smirked.

"I believe you blew up the last one you tried using," He reminded her with a knowing smile. "We'll just go out somewhere to eat; it's what I usually do."

"Every night?"

"No point cooking for myself when there are others trained to do it."

"I can't stand that…" Maria said and Sherlock looked down at her. "I do like to eat at home sometimes."

Sherlock sighed.

"I guess we'd don't have to eat out, so long as you can promise not to destroy the apartment."  
"It's just pasta."

"You say that now…"

They arrived at Maria's apartment which she unlocked and allowed Holmes to step inside. She pulled off her light green coat and threw it down before walking over to the nearest things and beginning to stack them in a somewhat orderly fashion. Sherlock dropped his coat and walked over to help, his fingers immediately finding her laptop.

"Why do you need a laptop?" He questioned. Maria had never been one for computers.

"My therapist insisted that I write a blog about everything that happens to me in my day-to-day life. I've done more in one night than I have in the week I've been back. I'll at least have something to write when I settle down tonight." She said, before moving over to the window to glance out. "Mrs Hudson's here." She announced before taking a pile of stuff to the door and heading out.

Sherlock was left alone to ponder this new knowledge about Maria. So her therapist believed that writing a blog would help her deal with her suffering? Somehow he didn't see the logic in that. He moved over to another part of the room to examine the space.

Everything had changed. Where once she would have had many oddments and curiosities, she barely had anything. She used to love little trinkets and such, but he could see none in sight. Had she taken on the military 'bring only what you need' routine so much she was still like it here? Then he would waste no time spoiling her into forgetting about that place and its memories, particularly if it got rid of her nightmares.

Maria came back in to find him looking around in the kitchen.

"The stuff to carry is out here Holmes," She said motioning at the pile of stuff he could carry out for her.

"Right," He said moving over and picking it up. Once Mrs Hudson's car was full, she drove back to Baker's street with Sherlock, while Maria stayed behind on her own to clear up the last of her stuff.

However, what she didn't know was that she was being watched from afar, from one of the opposite buildings. He was watching her move around, packing stuff; she didn't know he was there though.

"What lovely red hair…" The man muttered to himself, greedily watching Maria. "I must find out where you're going…"


	6. Motives for Murder

Chapter Six; Motives for Murder

It took them all but a couple of hours to move all of Maria's things from her apartment to Baker's street. After returning, Maria retreated to her room to change clothes, she swapped her jeans for trackies, and to unpack her things and sort them out and also sign paperwork for Mrs Hudson. It was tedious but had to be done.

Sherlock however stood tall in the living room, playing his violin and thinking over the case, trying to follow the man to his untimely death, playing fast then slow, and high then low. It was hard for Maria to think with the noise, but she let him be, knowing that he was better undisturbed on a case. Besides she had a blog to write on and lots of paperwork to do.

She sat on the bed, her bung leg out straight the other folded back to lay her laptop on as she sat and typed out the events of last night and this morning. She found that, she had a lot more to type than she'd originally thought and without meaning to, she put so much of her thoughts and emotions into it. Of course, she decided to change a few things, like bleep out some important names and places here and there. But then again, she doubted that anyone would read her blog.

She smiled to herself as the sad tune Sherlock was playing echoed down the hall and into her room. She paused her writing for a moment just to listen before she continued typing. In some ways, this did make her feel slightly better, like writing down her emotions helped her to vent them. Not only that, she wouldn't go to Sherlock with them, he had a case on his mind and enough to deal with already.

That brought her mind back to the case and the vision of the man spread-eagled on the floor. And all that _blood_. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She had agreed to help and now she was a part of this case. She wasn't about to let Sherlock go running after some criminal on his own now she was back. But there was always the problem of her leg; but she came to the decision she would still continue to work-out, just to stay fit and to be able to keep up with Holmes.

Holmes. Speaking of him, the violin had stopped without her noticing. She snapped her laptop shut before placing it down and walking out into the living room.

"Sherlock?" She asked stepping out to him in lying on the couch silently, his hands held like as if he was in prayer. But Sherlock didn't pray, he didn't believe in God, he didn't even know the Earth revolved around the Sun, a fact she'd discovered to her horror in their younger days. He seemed to ignore her at first but then finally spoke.

"Repeat to me your finding off the man yesterday, I need to review the information." He said sitting up and looking at her expectantly. Maria blinked before repeating everything she could remember from yesterday.

"What about the paint samples? Have you tested them yet?"

"I did that just before. Found about thirty plus places in London that sell it, it'll be no use to us…" He said. "Though, it was a good thought on your part." He added and Maria nodded.

"They done a background check on the man yet?"

"No, not yet. The Yard is very slow." He said and Maria sighed.

"We're going to run Lestrade ragged working together again, we're already five steps ahead of the yard," Maria said with a small sense of realisation and a laugh. Sherlock blinked then joined her.

"That man is in for a ride. Remember all the cases we solved together back in High-school?" He asked looking at her.

"Oh the memories," She said with a chuckle. "But back to the case. Motive?"

"Could be a number of things, for fun is the main one. I sense that this is a serial killer though,"

"Because the body was in plain sight."

"Right. So we can decide the fact that they wanted some attention to be drawn to themselves. The painting as well as the body. Why leave the painting? Why paint the scene of the murder?" Sherlock asked as he stood up and paced slightly.

"Attention from the media maybe?" Maria suggested.

"The media hasn't caught news of this yet and Lestrade won't let them. It'll be a quiet removal as the gallery is funded through tax payer's dollars and they'll be a riot if they…"

"Find out a murder was committed there."

"Precisely. Now, we can safely assume that this is a serial killer who wants attention drawn to his paintings, which are precise as to how the murder happened." Sherlock stopped pacing for a moment.

"That's another thing; they would have to know what their victim looked like to be able to paint them."

"So they wouldn't just pick someone random, there would have to be a connection, there always is…I need to think, need more evidence…"

Maria nodded slowly, standing at the doorway, leaning against the frame, arms crossed. Sherlock glanced at her; she still had that military air about her standing around in trackies and a sleeveless shirt. He noticed she no longer had the thin and delicate frame she'd had once before, her arms were much more muscular, while still appearing quite feminine. Her eyes had changed as well, once she had been innocent and wide-eyed, she now saw the world for what it truly was, and she was guarded.

Then there were the dog-tags she still sported around her neck; were they a reminder of what she had gained or lost? There was only so much he could read about her and her eyes and her expression were giving away nothing, like usual. She had changed and so had he but yet, she still trusted him and guarded him, just like she had before.

"Sherlock you're staring…" Maria said, breaking through his thoughts. He blinked and quickly turned his head away. He had a case to solve, but at the same time there was Maria. He turned back to her but she had already wandered off back to her room. He shook his head then drew his vast mind back to the case. Maria sat back down on her bed and looked down at her dog tags for a moment she then sighed and picked up her laptop again and began typing.

It was a few hours before Holmes called her out of her room again. She found him in the living room pulling on his coat and scarf.

"We have business down at the morgue, then we're going to return to the crime scene, and then, I believe some dinner would be appropriate," He said sporting a tone that said, '_I know something you don't and I'm going to get away with it'_. Maria frowned and raised an eyebrow before he threw her coat to her which she caught.

"You also may want to put another shirt on, it's quite chilly today," He suggested and Maria looked down at herself before agreeing with him and going to put on a long-sleeved shirt before her coat. She came back out to find him bouncing on his heels with a small sly smile on his face. She wondered what was going on in his mind; his eyes were giving nothing away.

"Tell me where we're going to dinner."

"You'll see."


	7. Dinner and a Show

Chapter Seven; Dinner and a Show!

Sherlock slipped into the cab, shortly followed after by Maria. He told the cabby where to go and soon they were off towards the morgue. It was a short trip and soon Sherlock was ushering Maria out first to wait for him on the sidewalk. One long leg after another soon followed her out onto the sidewalk before they stepped inside and were greeted by Shelly, who did not seem to be pleased at all to see Maria with Sherlock again.

"The autopsy is complete."

"Leave the papers, Maria can read them to me." Sherlock said, dismissing her. She didn't look to happy about it but she left. Maria sighed, mentally noting to herself to remind Sherlock of his manners later when they had a moment. Still she walked over and picked up the file and opened it.

"Nothing interestingly new, small knife, jugular vein, I even got his age right," She said, more to herself than Sherlock as she sat down on the edge of the desk. "From what I can tell, there was no reason for this man to die, the killer must have just taken an interest in them or something…but there is this, the guy apparently dyed his hair recently, though how that applies to anything I don't know."

Sherlock was silent after she stopped talking, wheeling things over in his mind.

"Does it say what hair colour he had previously?" He finally asked.

"No, but I can tell you it was probably red. Not all of my people like their red hair like I do," She said with a giggle, flicking a lock of hair back off her face. Sherlock gave a small smile before his mind returned to the case. He stood over the table, staring down at a map Shelly had on it.

"We should go to the art gallery again, see if we can trace the man's steps and the murderer's. There are only four exits from the gallery including the bay where their art is delivered to."

"You take one I'll take the other?" Maria offered and Sherlock nodded.

They arrived at the gallery ten minutes later and spread out; Maria was to trace the guard's steps, Sherlock taking the murderer. The gallery was closed off from the public for today so they had the whole place to themselves, which would make it easier to think at least. Maria started along, putting her mind set into the same as the guard as she walked along the corridors, noting where there were turns, doors and dead ends. Finally she came upon the hallway of the scene; it was a dead end corridor.

She walked all the way to the end and turned only to find Holmes standing right behind her.

"For the love of…!" She cried, clutching at her heart. "Don't do that Sherlock…"

"But do you realise what this means?" Sherlock sounded elated.

"You came through a secret door I hope?"

"No, the floor makes no noise when you walk in socks," He said showing her his socked feet. "He could have easily..."

"Left his shoes at any of the doors and walked in without alerting to anyone that he was there!" Maria cried, catching on. "We should check the doors!" She cried hurrying off, Homes struggling to put his shoes and dashing after her. He couldn't help but notice how her leg didn't seem to be bothering her and she was running normally. Maria reached the closest door first and she burst out onto a side alley with a few bins around. One end led into a main street, the other lead down past the delivery entrance, off into more backstreets. Sherlock appeared beside her. Maria didn't even need to speak, she knew they were thinking the same thing, _this was the way he'd come_. But for now, there was nothing more for them to do and the sun was slowly starting to set.

"I believe it's time for dinner," Sherlock said, throwing an arm around Maria as they walked out the front door. Maria looked up at him and he answered her question with a grin.

Sherlock made sure to tell the cabby discretely where they were going, as so Maria couldn't overhear, which only made her more curious. Sherlock sat back in his seat with a triumphant look at her at his ability to keep their next location a secret from her. He grinned at her and she had to smile slightly herself. She knew he never smiled like this around anyone else.

"Where are we going?" Maria pestered, moving over to sit right beside him in the cab, rather than on the other side like she normally did. Sherlock just smiled at her.

"Do you remember, back in high school, how I used to walk you home after school?" He asked. Maria nodded. Sherlock of course remembered, one night in particular, perfectly.

_It had been about three weeks before they finished school and Maria was soon leaving to go to college. It was raining and he was holding the umbrella despite the fact both of them were already slightly damp, her hair hanging annoyingly around her face, the smell of her perfume was everywhere. They were chatting like normal, and she was telling him about places she'd want to visit, places like France, and the Indigo restaurant on One Aldwych._

He was brought back to reality by Maria tugging on his arm.

"You're so mean Sherly," She said, reverting to the nickname his mother had given to him. Sherlock had hated it in high school and Maria had always used it when she wanted to annoy him. He visibly flinched and looked sideways at her with a half glare and somewhat of a smile. Only she was ever allowed to call him Sherly, anyone else would have been reprimanded immediately.

"Sheeeerrrrrlllllly…." She whined again poking him in the cheek.

"You're still not any more patient I see," He replied, absently tucking a lock of her hair back behind her ear. A light tinge spread across her cheeks and she promptly hid her face into his sleeve. He chuckled softly and tried to move his arm away but she had it firmly. He leaned over to whisper into her ear.

"I'll tell you a secret; we're going someplace you told me you wanted to go..." He said before leaning back in his seat, leaving his arm in her grasp as she thought over the possibilities. She smiled slightly and let go of his arm.

"You…!" She said before trying her attempt at hugging him in the confined space of the cab by throwing her arms around his neck. He paused for a moment before his arm snaked to pull her closer against him. She smiled and buried her face into his neck. Sherlock rested his head on top of hers, taking in her smell, he was curious as to what perfume she was wearing, he couldn't pick it which was strange. His eyes traced a lock of her hair, down to her eyes, which at the moment were closed. She looked safe and comfortable in his arms and he hoped that was the case.

"I missed you a lot, you know what right?" He mumbled into her hair and she let out a soft laugh.

"I know Sherlock, I missed you too."

The cab then pulled up in front of the restaurant and Sherlock, stepped out, pulling Maria with him, not willing to let go of her just yet.


	8. Hymn for the Missing

Chapter Eight; Hymn for the Missing

After dinner, Maria convinced Sherlock to walk with her for a while before catching a cab home. The sun hadn't completely set yet and it was a nice evening. The continuing conversation from the dinner table easily flowed as they walked along, discussing previous cases together and their younger lives. It all seemed so far away from now. She was thinking back on times, old feelings, old emotions some that were still there even after all this time.

She found herself slipping her arm around his, part of her wondered how stupid she was but Sherlock didn't refuse her. She was the one, the only one, he welcomed touch from. She was gentle with him, others were brutal, but her touch was always gentle, always kind. Even before she'd left for the war, he'd always wanted to tell her…

"Sherlock, look, I'm a dragon!" Her voice broke through his thoughts as she blew out and her breath froze into smoke in front of her. Sherlock smiled down at her as she laughed.

"So where are we walking to?" Sherlock asked looking around. Maria shrugged.

"We're just walking, when was the last time you just walked around for the fun of it?" She asked. The correct answer was that he hadn't done this since she'd left, but the answer she got was a shrug. Maria laughed softly and looked around; trying to see anywhere interesting they could go when she caught sight of someone staring intently at them, moreover, at _her_. She stopped, Sherlock pausing beside her.

"Maria?" He asked and she looked up at him for a moment before back across the street but the person was gone. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing…I just…thought I saw something…" She said before setting off again, Sherlock following after her to catch up. It was unlike Maria to be distant to him. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

"Maybe we should go home," He suggested. "It's getting late." Before she had a chance to agree or disagree, he flagged down a cabby and dragged Maria over to it. She got inside without complaint but she was still uncharacteristically quiet. Sherlock was at a loss at what do to, he had to break her thoughts but how? Then he had an idea.

"Maria." She looked at him as he reached over and placed a hand on top of hers before leaning over planting a soft kiss on her cheek. She froze, her cheeks turning a pale pink. She stumbled over her words as he looked at her.

"Leave the thinking to me," He said with a kind smile that only melted her mind even more. She smiled slightly dumbly as the cab pulled up on Bakers street. She hopped out first and was the first one into the apartment taking off her coat.

"I call first shower," She said with a laugh before heading off. Sherlock pulled off his own coat, his mind wandering back to the unsolved case he had ready for him to solve before the police. He lay down on the couch as Maria had her shower. When she returned to the living room she was wearing her pyjamas, a pair of shorts and a shirt that looked three times to big for her. He couldn't deny she looked really cuddly.

"Your turn," She said drying her hair with a towel. Sherlock rose and walked past her into the bathroom. After he was gone, Maria sighed softly and threw down the towel over the back of the chair. She made her way over to the window to look out over the street. Her eyes widened.

There he was again, he man from earlier, so she wasn't crazy.

Maria didn't even stop to think she ran straight to the door. She was going to find out about this once and for all. She ran out onto the street in her pyjama's ignoring the cold that bit hungrily at her legs. The man was still there, seeing her however he turned and started off down an alley.

"Stop you!" Maria cried as she sprinted across the street after him, throwing caution to the wind. She was just out of sight, when Sherlock returned to the living room.

"Maria?" He asked spinning on the spot, doing a double check for the red-haired woman. Red-haired. The man had previously been a red head. Maria was….

"DAMN!" Sherlock shouted, diving for his phone.

Maria on the other hand had stopped in the middle of a freezing cold alleyway having lost sight of the man.

"Show yourself!" She cried turning on the spot, her breathing heavy and sporadic. When no-one answered her, she sighed and turned to head back inside, the cold starting to get to her. However turning around was her first mistake. She was grabbed from behind, a cloth quickly covering her mouth before she could scream or call for help. She struggled furiously against the attacker, but whatever he had on the cloth was slowly poisoning her air supply. Her vision blurred and then her world turned black.

Finally, Lestrade answered, though he didn't sound too happy about it.

"The pattern, he's going after red-heads," Sherlock said as he single-handedly put on his coat and scarf. "They've taken Maria. She's missing."


	9. Emergency

Chapter Nine; Emergency

Maria woke to an unfamiliar room and _two_ unfamiliar faces across from her. She blinked several times, slowly coming back into her mind. She was tied, quite tightly she noted, to a chair by both her ankles and her wrists.

"Who are you?" She asked, the bite coming back into her voice as she stared them down. One was tall, like Sherlock tall but had none of his kindness in his face. The other one was the man she'd seen on the street, much shorter and rounder in both body and face.

"That's for us to know and for you not to know," The short one purred reaching out and stroking her hair. Like a cat she hissed and pulled her head away from his hand. She had a thing against guys touching her hair, Sherlock being the exception of course.

"Kitty-cat's got some bite now does she?" The short one was obviously the boss, but Maria could tell it had been the taller one who had grabbed her.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked.

"Because, I want people to respect my artwork. For too long people have laughed at my paintings and rejected them from galleries. So I knew I had to put it there myself. But then the Yard went and kept my work a secret from the public. Looks like I'm going to have to make this one much more obvious, and guess what sweetheart, after I finish your painting and place you with it, I'm going after that lovely red-headed land-lady of yours."

"Don't you dare lay a finger on Mrs Hudson!" Maria hissed and the short man laughed. "Who's going to stop me, that man of yours? He won't find you until it's too late." He turned to the other man. "Put her in the truck, I just have the finishing touches to put on her painting." He ordered before the tall man easily picked her and the chair up and moving out the door. Maria struggled but it got her nowhere as she was placed inside the unmarked truck. The small man come back not long after, a painting in his hands, covered by a sheet. He hopped into the van, placed it down before jumping out again and shutting the doors on Maria.

Sherlock was in a frenzy. Lestrade told him to come down to the station and once he had arrived he shared the news that they had found fingerprints on the painting and had tracked them down to a warehouse.

"Well what are we waiting for?!" Sherlock had cried and they'd set off for the warehouse, Sherlock taking a cab instead of riding in the cruiser. However, when they arrived, there was no-one there. Sherlock scoured the place from top to bottom, only finding one of Maria's hairs.

"She was here…not long ago…" He said holding the hair up to the light. He should have realised earlier. She practically flaunted her hair in front of him and he didn't pick up on it. That was when his phone started to ring in his pocket. The tone was unfamiliar to him. Rock music? Since when….

_'I think we have an emergency, I think we have an emergency! If you thought I'd flee then you were wrong, 'cause I won't stop holding on!'_

That was when it clicked and he whipped the phone out of his pocket.

"Maria, where are you?" He asked. There was a pause on the other side of the line.

"I can't….I can't answer that Sherlock…" Maria's voice came through. "He says…says that this is my time to die, that I'll join the angels. Remember when we talked about them? You said you didn't believe, hm, maybe if I become one you'll believe?"

"Stop talking like that." Sherlock snapped. Then his voice softened. "Don't talk like that. I will find you."

There was a noise of the phone being moved before a soft male voice spoke.

"Have fun trying to find her before she freezes to death, Sherlock." The phone went dead. Sherlock lowered his own phone before turning to Lestrade.

"She's in a cathedral." He said turning to Lestrade. "Where's the nearest one?"

"There's a cathedral not too far from here, but how can you tell that?"

"Because she mentioned turning into an angel and people don't turn into angels, it was something she taught me long ago."

Maria was still tied to her chair. They had placed her, for full effect, right at the very front, where the pastor would stand to preach, the painting on a stand behind and above her so people could see her and then the painting. The short man smiled. He thought that this would be perfect. Cathedrals were cold, and she was already freezing from chasing him out into the weather and her lack of suitable clothes. He could see the goosebumps on her skin, and how pale she had already turned. He smiled and moved over to place her hair perfectly, the same way it was in the painting. He lifted her chin up to look at him for a moment. She was losing her energy fast the colder she got. He dropped her chin again, letting her head hang as she shivered violently.

Maria was trapped. She wasn't like Holmes, being able to weasel her way out of any situation. Sure she knew how to think and act like him but, when she came down to it she was nothing like him. She bit her lip softly. She was a fool for charging into this like he would have; her pride had taken over for a moment and now she was going to pay for it with her life.

She didn't want to die. She had survived through Afghanistan for what? To return home only to die from the cold? That was not how she wanted to go. She weakly pulled at the ropes binding her hands but she had to admit, the guy knew how to tie a knot. She sighed softly, feeling defeated as the two men spoke of how they were going to leave without being spotted.

_'Sherlock….SHERLOCK!'_


	10. Rescued

Chapter Ten; Rescued

_'Sherlock….SHERLOCK!'_

The door banged open but Maria had no strength to look up. The men whirled around to see Sherlock strolling down the aisle. He's arrived ahead of the police, who were still trying to organise themselves.

"Get 'im!" The short man cried point before he ran over to the bag near Maria. The taller man turned to Sherlock and charged at him, Sherlock fighting back. He had to get to Maria!

He quickly dodged the first wild attack, narrowly avoiding the next. He struck back quickly, like a viper, punching the man in the nose, before grabbing his arm and sending him into the pews. The shorter man finally found what he was looking for and loaded it before going over to Maria and pointing it at her head just as Sherlock turned to look. He froze at the sight of the gun at Maria's head.

"Now, on your knees," He commanded of Sherlock and grudgingly he obeyed. A bullet to the leg she could survive, but one to the head would surely kill her. The small man smiled before he reached behind her to pull the sheet off the painting. Sherlock's eyes widened. There was Maria, as she was now, in her pyjamas, her blood red hair spilling down, hiding her face from sight. His Maria…was dead in that painting.

Slowly, he wondered if he dared to stand. When had a man and a gun scared him otherwise? But Maria hadn't been involved then like she was right now, her life hadn't clung onto his decision whether to get up or stay down. So he stayed down as the short man called to his partner, telling him to get up. How long did it take the Yard…?

His thoughts were cut off by the sound of people running and the doors opened once again.

"POLICE FREEZE!" A voice yelled and the short man immediately froze and dropped the gun. Apparently he was all talk and no words. The second she was out of danger, Sherlock was on his feet and by her side, yanking apart the rope as the short man was apprehended.

"Maria?" He questioned and when she didn't answer, he panicked slightly.

"Cold…" She finally mumbled and Sherlock sighed. Lestrade couldn't help but watch in awe as Sherlock pulled off his treasured coat and wrapped it around her, helping her put her arms in the sleeves, before he picked her up gently.

"Lestrade." Sherlock said sharply and the DI looked at him. "I'm taking Maria home; I believe your lot can deal with these two. Also, destroy that painting while you're at it." He said before heading for the door.

"Sherlock. Maria's condition though…"

"I'll deal with that." He said carrying her out onto the street. Maria was unaware of what was really happening. She was wrapped up in something that smelled like herbs and old parchment and something warm was right next to her. Then there was heat and slowly she felt herself warming up.

"Sherlock?" She questioned, her eyes focusing on the black locks of hair right in front of her nose.

"I'm here Maria." He answered his head turning so she could see his face. "I'm taking you home," He murmured, his hand absently rubbing her arm gently.

He decided a warm bath, some hot tea and then bed was the best course of action for her, as he could still feel the chill of her skin. Maria smiled slightly then nodded, before it dawned on her she was wrapped up in _Sherlock's_ coat and sitting on _Sherlock's_ lap. Blush shot out across her cheeks.

"What's wrong Maria? I can ask for the heat to be turned up if you're still too cold." Sherlock asked and Maria shook her head and proceeded to hide her face behind his collar.

"I'm fine right where I am…" She murmured closing her eyes again. She wasn't really asleep, Sherlock could tell from her breathing and the way her body remained tense.

But he had failed her. He had allowed her to fall into the clutches of the enemy and it had almost cost her life. But then, partly it was also her own fault for not wearing enough clothes. He looked down at her for a moment then raised a hand and flicked her forehead gently.

"Idiot," He chided softly, but at the same time, it sounded almost endearing. Maria frowned slightly.

"I know, I'm sorry." She mumbled in his coat. He sighed and began to comfortingly rub her arm again. Slowly, as if he didn't fully realise himself, he moved further and further up her arm until he'd reached her shoulder. There he absently began playing with the ends of her hair. Maria blinked slowly but didn't stop him. She was kind of enjoying the affection from him, though she knew it wasn't going to last long and sure enough they were soon pulling up in front of the flat.

Sherlock gathered her up in his arms, after paying the cabby, and then carried her inside, much to her protest. She shushed her before gently placing her down in one of the comfy armchairs.

"Bath, Tea, bed," He ordered very sternly, but Maria could help the cheeky grin that came to her lips.

"Aren't I the doctor?" She asked and he smirked slightly.

"Tonight you're my patient." He said back before standing to go off and draw a bath for her, leaving her to sit there in silence. His patient? Somehow that just made her think about the poor guy whose head was now in their fridge.

However when Holmes returned for her a little bit later, she forgot about that and let him help her to the bathroom, where she promptly kicked him out before sinking down into the water. She couldn't deny, he'd made it the perfect temperature and she would have been very willing to sleep there. Holmes had other idea's though and kept coming back to knock and make sure she was alright. After the fourth time, she had to get out, with some complaint from her cold limbs. She got dressed again, including putting Holmes coat back on before gliding out into the kitchen where a steaming cuppa was waiting for her.

She smiled and sat down, pushing back the sleeves of the coat to drink. It sent a warm chill down her body which she happily welcomed.

"How are you feeling?" Sherlock asked, leaning against the countertop. Maria took a few moments before answering.

"I'm still a bit cold. The chill was bone deep…does the heating in my room work?"

"Probably not, Mrs Hudson has yet to have it fixed."

Maria nodded, drinking down the rest of her tea. She placed the cup in the sink before Sherlock shadowed her to her room, eyes full of concern following her all the way. While Maria stopped beside her laptop on the desk, Sherlock made his way over and sat down on the bed.

"Are you going to insist on wearing my coat to bed?" Sherlock asked, seeing how she cuddled into it and seemed not likely to take it off anytime soon.

"It smells like you," Maria admitted with a small smile. "I missed your musk." She said with a small laugh, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Then why don't you just have me instead of the coat?" Sherlock asked suddenly. Maria's eyes widened and shot to look at him as she spluttered out

"W-What?"

"Body heat, might do you some good, and it's not like we haven't shared a bed for a night before…"

"We were 11 Sherlock!" Maria reminded him.

"Are you embarrassed then?

"No…" _'Yes'_

"Then get over here." He half demanded. Slowly she walked over to him and crawled onto the bed beside him. He looked at her and she pulled he coat around her a bit tighter as she lay down. He lay down beside her, pulling her into his embrace before she could complain. An arm under her head, the other wrapped loosely around her waist, her nose lightly brushing against his chest. Maria was glad for the coat's high collar, hiding the blush that had been set like a roaring fire across her cheeks.

He was right about the body heat though and she couldn't deny how content she felt having her head tucked up under his chin, she was hyper aware of how he held her and how she knew how she was the envy of many woman who fancied him. Only she could get this close to him, bring forth these kinds of emotions from him. She sighed softly to herself and just listened to his heartbeat right beside her face.

Sherlock was asleep within minutes, much to Maria's surprise. The man hardly spelt a wink on a normal day but now he was sawing logs like no-bodies business. Maybe tonight's events had been too much for him to deal with. Honestly, she didn't know, so she just took to closing her eyes and trying to fall asleep next to the great Sherlock Holmes.


	11. She is the Sunlight

I promised myself I would finish 2 chapters before posting the next chapter, I'm at one and a half and I just couldn't wait any longer to post this chapter. I think this has got to be my favourite chapter. Not just because it's the best one I've written, I don't believe it is, but just because I wrote it to be just an adorable time between Maria and Sherlock.

For the best experience with this chapter, please, listen to the song **'She is the Sunlight' by Trading Yesterday **while you read it! I listened to it on repeat while writing this chapter and I found it just makes this even more adorable, and at the same time sort of explains a bit about Sherlock's feelings towards Maria.

Cheers, Steps.

* * *

Chapter Eleven; She is the Sunlight

Sherlock woke the next morning to find his coat laid over him like a blanket and Maria nowhere in sight. He blinked a few times. How long had he slept? He glanced over at the alarm clock on the bedside table before swinging his legs off the bed and standing up. Far off he could hear music, Maria's music. He never really listened to anything outside the classics and this was clearly rock and roll.

He wandered out to find her searching around in the cupboards. She seemed unaware of his presence as she pulled out the toaster triumphantly and set it down on the countertop. She had tied her hair up into a bun on the top of her head, and was wearing a pair of loose jeans and a white button up shirt. He watched her silently from the doorway as she plonked in a couple of pieces of toast, before reaching over to turn up her music.

"Rise and shine Sherly!" She called loudly without turning around before she began to tap her foot and nod her head in time to the music. She began to hum along as she reached up and pulled down two cups and placed them on the bench. She then turned and let out a scared huff.

"Sherlock, Lord have mercy…" She muttered and he smirked slightly.

"Did I scare you?" He asked as she walked over to the fridge, opened it and pulled out the milk. She rolled her eyes and walked back over to the cups.

"Coffee?" She asked, completely ignoring his question as she began to make herself one anyway. He sat down at the table and ordered herbal tea.

"Would you like anything else _sir_?" She asked sarcastically as she began to make his tea for him.

"Hmm, maybe just a bite of toast," He said thinking for a minute. "I need a new case."

Maria half laughed.

"We just got off a case Sherlock!" She said, bringing over his tea and a slice of toast with jam in it.

"I know but that was yesterday, this is today, my brain needs something to fuel it, something to keep it from tearing itself raw," He reminded her before beginning on his breakfast. Maria sighed before sitting down across from him with her coffee.

"I'll have a look through the paper later, see if there's anything interesting," Maria promised as she drank her coffee down in three gulps. After retrieving the paper she returned to the comfy chair in the living room, where Sherlock was pacing around franticly. She began to flick through it boredly, talking aloud whenever she stopped something she thought might spark his interest.

However, nothing seemed to draw out his interest so she shut the paper and placed it down.

"Let's go out," Maria suddenly suggested. "Go look around the town, have lunch at a nice café or something."

Sherlock looked at her.

"Why?"

"For…old times' sake." Which was Maria's way of saying she wanted him to spend time with her to ease his mind as nothing else seemed to be working. He looked at her for a moment before nodding.

"Alright."

Twenty minutes later they were both dressed up warmly, sporting their coats and scarves. Maria was wearing her favourite light green coat and tan scarf and Sherlock sporting his favourite dark coat and scarf. She had convinced him to walk, once again. It did wonders for her leg and working out the kinks in her stride. Sherlock was there beside her the whole time and even let her hold onto his arm like a gentleman.

She couldn't help but smile as they walked down Bakers street together towards a ghost of their past, the school where they had first met. Walking up to the gates was like stepping back into the past for Maria. She lingered at the gate while Sherlock made a beeline for his tree right near the gate. It was nice to see that not much had changed about the place though so many years had passed. Maria dared not count.

Lost in thought, she looked up to find herself looking at a familiar scene, Sherlock sitting in the exact same spot, fitting into it like it had remembered him and grown accustomed to his shape. She had to laugh softly as she headed over towards him.

"What's so funny?" He questioned as soon as she was close enough.

"The fact even after all these years, it's still your spot." She said before sinking down into the spot next him him, stretched her legs out and leaning back against the tree. Sherlock glanced sideways at her with a small smile. She had been his first and only friend, even after all these years she had stuck by him, remained at his side, even now under the tree. She could have stood, acted like her age but she preferred to be like him, to pretend that she was still the same.

He found himself staring at her once again, just like the other night, noting the changes in her face, the lines of age. But then there was the way her hair hung around her face, catching what rays of sunlight shone through, and sending flickering sparks like a flame dancing down her curls. He'd always loved her hair and without thinking he reached out and twisted a curl around his finger, watching the colour dance in the light. He heard her laugh from far away before he realised she was watching him.

"You seem to like playing with my hair," She commented, tilting her head on a soft angle, sending her hair cascading like a waterfall over her shoulder to hang like a backdrop behind her tanned face. Sherlock for a moment seemed slightly stunned by the vision in front of him. Then he smiled at her.

"Yes I do." He then stood up and began to walk around the tree. Maria smiled slightly and looked around at the flower bush beside her. She reached out and took a few flowers. Sherlock made his way around the tree slowly, tracing his fingers along the bark, thinking back and remembering.

_She was sitting there all by herself making flower crowns. He remembered trying to come up behind her to scare her, just as s joke but as it turned out, she got him instead, coming up behind him and placing the crown on his head before darting away with a triumphant laugh. He remembered then chasing her around the tree, trying to catch her. But even so, he'd kept the crown on his head all the while. There was something about the way she made them, they were strong and didn't break very easily._

Sherlock came around the tree again to the front, intending to catch Maria, only to find she had vanished. The next thing he felt was something soft dropping into his hair before watching a green and red streak dart past him with a laugh.

"Got ya!" She cried and he looked up to see Maria in front of him, a huge grin on her face. Just like that time before and he could see the younger her shining through her as clear as day. He reached up to find a flower crown on his head. A wicked grin set across his face as he looked at her.

"Come here you!" He cried before running after her. She dodged him with laughter that sounded like music to his ears.

"Gotta catch me first!" She cried.

Only she could bring this sort of joy to his normally absent heart. It seemed to him, that only while she was near did his heart shine through, that it was made clear that, despite what people thought, he had a heart. He had a heart but it was only for her. She, who had been the first to see it, to accept him and come to know him better than he knew himself sometimes. She inspired him, to be a better person, to someone to be worth saving. She believed in him when no-one else would listen and no matter what, come hell or high water, he would be there for her.

Maria was the sunlight to his dark world, and if holding her meant that he had to bleed then he was a martyr for her. She lived in a daydream and part of him knew he didn't belong there but he could only find some sense of peace in her eyes, in her warmth that she emitted everywhere she went. She was a kind soul and it was easy to care too much about her. He watched her dancing around in front of him, trying to avoid his long limbs from taking hold of her and catching her.

He laughed, an honest laugh, as he weaved after her before managing to catch hold of her, picking her up easily in his strong arms.

"I believe I win," He said as she laughed. He placed her back on her feet before removing the flower crown from his head and placing it on hers.

"It suits you better," He said honestly. She was a queen, in his eyes and while he was ever on the side of the angels, he was never to be mistaken as one of them. While Maria knew this, it didn't stop her from causing all these emotions he didn't fully understand from welling up inside of him. The white flowers of the crown happily mingled in with the red of her hair and he smiled down at her as she looked up at him and gave him a grin only he had ever seen on her face.

"Where shall we go now?"

Holmes had to admit that by the end of the day, they had almost done a full circuit of the city. Maria had happily dragged him all over to all different things he hadn't done in so long. She'd dragged him into a movie theatre and forced him not to yell at the movie and point out its every fault so he had resorted to a pouting look that had only made her laugh and tease him.

He had taken her shopping of course, wherever she had wanted to go they had gone. She only carried one bag though, still seeming to follow that military routine and he had even offered to buy her more things, but she had declined out of courtesy. He had snuck off at one point to get her something from him, which he intended to give to her soon and thankfully she hadn't bugged him about it. Maria had also managed to sneak in some grocery shopping.

So now that stood on the end of one of the boardwalks reaching out over the Thames, looking out at the water and the cityscape behind it. Sherlock was leaning against the barrier on his elbows, occasionally glancing at Maria, who seemed to be breathing in deeply the light breeze that rolled across them.

"You don't realise how much you miss London until you've been away a while…" Maria said quietly as she looked out to the view. Sherlock silently agreed, looking down at the small box in his hand.

"Maria…" He said quietly after a pause of silence. She looked at him and he offered the small box to her. "Here."

Maria took the box and looked down at it for a moment before opening it.

"Oh Sherlock…" She mumbled slowly pulling out the small angel inside. She sat it on her hand and examined his little finely crafted wings and the flower crown imbedded in his hair. "It's beautiful." She said, carefully putting it back in the box before putting it down in the bag at her feet. She then stood up and gave Sherlock a hug. Leaning up on tiptoes she gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Thank-you."

"You're welcome," He murmured softly, a twinge of pink appearing on his cheeks. "We should head home."

Maria agreed and they made their way back to Bakers street together.


	12. An Old Acquaintance

Chapter 12; An Old Acquaintance

As soon as they returned home, Maria put on some tea and began to make dinner. Sherlock had decided to stay out of the room, mainly so he wouldn't just hover behind her the whole time she cooked. Instead he stood in the living room, contemplating very little for once, the day with Maria playing on repeat in his head, being saved and stored behind a secret door in his mind, where all his memories with her were kept for when he got lonely.

He realised throughout the day there had been a small tune playing over in his head, a tune that suited Maria. He hoped by it he could do her justice. He didn't dare pick up his violin and play though; he would write it down but wouldn't play it until Maria was out of earshot. He would perform it for her when it was ready for her to hear. He glanced behind him to look at her in the kitchen standing over the stove.

She had shed her coat and had returned to her trackies and sleeveless shirt. He remembered how she had used to always where long sleeved shirts to avoid people staring at the scar near her right elbow. He could see it clearly now. He remembered the first time she had shown him the scar; she had been in a car accident and a miracle that neither her nor her father had been injured, aside from her arm which bore the scar of the window slicing open her arm to the bone.

Absently, like as if she knew he was looking, she scratched the scar before returning to her cooking. Sherlock looked away, feeling bad for staring at her, again. He decided that he would talk to Mrs Hudson about these emotions, the woman wore him down to the bone but she knew better than he did on matters like this. Matters of the heart.

"Sherlock set the table please," Maria called, breaking through his thoughts. Sherlock silently began to clear off the table before setting down the placemats. He then poured their drinks and put them down. Meanwhile Maria was putting pasta onto two plates. When done with that she picked them up and laid them out on the table.

"You wouldn't be trying to get me drunk now would you?" Maria teasingly asked, noting the wine in her glass. Sherlock shrugged with a smile as he sat down in front of his meal. He went to go pick up his fork but Maria slapped his hand lightly and he looked at her with surprise as she sat down. Then he remembered, Maria always said grace.

He wanted to roll his eyes but he knew it would only lead to him copping a wooden spoon to his knuckles, like she had done once before when he'd stayed for dinner at her home once before. Maria held out her hands to him and he took them as she lowered her head. She said a few words to the Lord above before mumbling 'amen', Sherlock repeating it after her. He then released her hands and picked up his fork and began to eat as Maria did the same.

They ate in silence for a moment before Sherlock looked up at her.

"This is really good Maria," He praised and she smiled.

"Good. And best part I didn't blow anything up," She said with a laugh and he joined in for a moment before they lapsed back into silence. Sherlock finished up first and stood putting his plate and glass in the sink. Glancing at Maria, he walked off heading down into his room, leaving Maria alone in the kitchen. She downed the rest of her drink before putting her dishes in the sink; she'd deal with them later. Stretching, she walked out into the living room and collapsed into the nearest armchair. After a day out, all she wanted now was a nap.

However, the rest of the world had other plans. Its wasn't very long before Maria could hear the doorbell ringing far off and Mrs Hudson calling out to her from downstairs. Seeing as she could hear the shower going, Maria took it upon herself to make her way downstairs to see what was going on. She turned the corner to find Mrs Hudson standing beside two very formal looking men with shades on.

"Dr Maron, would you come with us?" The one on the left said and Maria sighed.

"Now?" She asked, sounding like a teenager being asked to do something they didn't want. The man who had spoken nodded. Maria groaned but trekked back upstairs to grab her coat and phone. She wasn't about to get dressed up, but she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice and go without enough on.

"Tell Sherlock I'm going out for a bit," Maria told Mrs Hudson, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder before she buttoned up her jacket and followed them out into the night air. One man opened the door on the waiting car for her and she slipped in, followed by the second man. The first took up a place in the front passenger seat.

Maria looked bored as they drove along to the apparently very remote location even though she knew exactly where they and who she was meeting. Once they'd stopped, Maria got out of the car and looked around.

"You dragged me from a warm apartment and a comfy armchair, this had better be good Mycroft," Maria said as she walked over to the older Holmes. He was wearing his usual expression, the one that lacked all emotion but some contempt.

"Lovely as always Maria," He greeted with one of his false smiles at her. "I see you and Sherlock have wasted no time together."

"If this about us living together…"

"It's about how he behaves with you. He becomes more mischievous and that could spell trouble in his case."

"I can handle him Mycroft. I know you worry about him but he's in good hands with me." Maria said and for a moment she felt like as if they were discussing a child, which was true in some respects. "I won't let anything happen to him."

"I know."

"Then why call me out here?"

"To see if you were as hopeless in love with him as you were back then, when we were children."

"Fancy me do you?" Maria said sarcastically and Mycroft let out a small 'hmpt' at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Stubborn as ever," He commented and Maria sighed.

"I went to war, you expected me to become any less stubborn?"

"No. Not really." Mycroft said looking at her. When they had been younger, she'd always thought Mycroft had been the one to worry more about. He'd always enjoyed power a lot more than Sherlock ever had. Maria jumped slightly at her phone going off in her pocket. She pulled it out and read the text from Sherlock.

'Are you with Mycroft? SH'

"He worries a lot about you." Mycroft commented. "But I'm sure he has no idea what it really means. Emotions and love are not his forte."

"I know, but like the idiot I am I'll keep loving him, even if he doesn't realise…" Maria said quietly before looking up at Mycroft. "I should get home. Goodnight Mycroft." She said before turning and walking away. Mycroft watched her walk away, remembering times a child when she had walked not only into Sherlock's life but into his. She hadn't had as much effect on Mycroft as she had Sherlock, but he still felt drawn to her, not in the same way his brother was, but she had an air about her that made her fascinating to all those who noticed her. She wasn't just a nameless face in the crowd.

The men in black, as Maria had dubbed them, took her home to Bakers street to the waiting Sherlock. She pulled off her coat as he watched her.

"Were you warm enough?"

"Yes."

"Did you get my text?"

"Yes Sherlock." Maria said with a sigh as she threw herself down into the armchair. Sherlock followed after her, kneeling down in front of her armchair. She sighed and leaned forwards slightly in the chair.

"What's the matter?"

"What did he want?" He asked simply and Maria found herself blushing softly.

"N-Nothing…" She said looking away from him, into the fireplace.

"Maria…" He said quietly, one long fingered hand resting over the top of hers. She nearly gave herself whiplash turning to look at him. She found his vivid eyes staring her down. She cast her eyes down to her hand, gently brushing her fingers absently across his wrist, causing him to turn his hand over.

"Well…" She started slowly, moving herself forwards in the seat towards him. She moved her other hand to brush back a few locks of his hair. "What we talked about…" She continued before gently pulling his head forwards slowly. She moved her head around so her lips were right near his ear. "..Is none of your business." She concluded in his ear before moving back to find him blinking at her slowly. She smiled softly before standing up and planting a kiss on the top of his head.

"Goodnight Sherlock." She said before moving away, leaving Sherlock to sit there stunned for a few moments longer. He looked down at his hand. Maria's pulse had been right there under his fingertips, her heart had been pounding, her pupils had dilated, he knew what all this meant but somehow he didn't believe it to be true. How could she love someone like him?

Maria however was in her room, happily inspecting the angel he'd given her. After finding that the perfect spot for it was right beside her alarm clock so it could be the first thing she saw when she woke, she collapsed into bed and was asleep within minutes.


	13. Remember

Hey guys, Steps here,

Sorry for the lack of recent updates I've been really sick lately, but now I'm a little better I'm hoping to continue updating this fairly regularly :)

Cheers, Steps

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Chapter 13; Remember

Sherlock rose the next morning to the sound of someone tapping out in the kitchen, with their music up just a notch too loud. Then Maria's voice carried down to him, singing along with the song. He smiled slightly. Maria had never had any real talent with singing, but it was nice just to listen.

"I can read you like a book, sad stories everywhere I look. Faded pictures remind you when what could have been, did not come true for you," She sang, missing half the notes but not seeming to be fazed by it as she continued to type up about the final of the case and the aftermath of yesterday's events. It was nice, being able to type it all out. She paused to take a bite of her toast before she continued typing, unaware of Holmes walking up to stand behind her to see what she was writing.

"Are you writing up the painting case?" He asked suddenly, causing Maria to jump and almost spill her coffee all over her laptop.

"Jesus..." She muttered putting her coffee down and turning her head to look at Sherlock. "Yes. What do you think?" Sherlock leaned over and scanned through what she had written.

"The Blood Painters? Really?" He asked before standing back up. Maria sighed.

"It's a working title," She said before closing her laptop with a snap. "Also, we have a new case, Lestrade texted it through just before." She said picking up his phone and offering it to him. Sherlock looked at her.

"Why do you have my phone?"

"You left it out here silly, it buzzed and so I checked who the message was from, that was all." She promised as he took the phone and opened the message.

'New case, coming by to fill you in. LS'

"He should be here soon," Sherlock said before ducking off to get dressed. When he came back Maria forced a piece of toast onto him.

"You can't run off herbal tea," She told him sternly and grudgingly he ate it. She sighed and left him be as she went and grabbed a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans to change into. When she returned to the living room, Lestrade and Sherlock were waiting for her, sitting down in the armchairs.

"So what's going on?" Maria asked, sitting down on the arm of Sherlock's chair.

"We've had a series of kidnappings, they haven't made the paper yet of course because the people missing, well, no-one's really kicked up a big fuss about them, until now." He started looking between them. "The latest one the husband came to us the other day said his wife was missing, went out to get some shopping, and never came back. After we did some digging we found out that there have been more very similar cases that never even caught our attention, kids that we thought were just run a ways, adults that only one person seemed to know. The list goes on." He explained looking at them. "He asked for you personally to take the case." Lestrade added as he stood up and offered Sherlock the case file which Maria took in his stead.

"Oh really?" Sherlock said, almost sarcastically as Maria sighed.

"Is this the missing woman's file?" Maria asked and Lestrade nodded. She opened the file slowly before her heart seemed to freeze. "We'll take the case Lestrade." She said looking up at the man, as Sherlock turned to her confused.

"I don't want to, seems boring to be honest."

"We're taking the case, Sherlock!" Maria cried furiously as she stood up. Lestrade and Sherlock seemed slightly stunned and Sherlock was the first to recover. He looked at her then sighed.

"Fine, we'll take the case." He said and Lestrade nodded slowly.

"Alright, I'll bring the husband here shall I?" He asked and Sherlock nodded and walked Lestrade out. He came back to find Maria in the same spot holding onto the folder.

"What was all that about?" Sherlock asked and Maria sighed.

"Sherlock..." Maria whispered, shaking her head. "It's...It's my mother Sherlock. My mother is missing." She said, her hand trembling. She hadn't seen her mother since she'd left for the war and had been too afraid to see her since she had returned. Sure, while she'd been away she'd sent a letter or two, but nothing really beyond that. She'd gotten on in her own life but now, her mother was in danger and that stoked the fire inside of her. She felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I promise you Maria, we'll find her." Sherlock said and Maria nodded at him. He took the folder off her and recommended she should just relax. She silently agreed and sat down in her armchair, Sherlock pacing around the living room as they waited. The sound of a car pulling up outside drew Sherlock's attention to the window. Then there came the sound of someone knocking and Sherlock went and got it. He returned a few moments later, followed by a familiar man. He was much shorter than Sherlock with dusty blonde hair that was starting to show signs of turning grey. His eyes were a deep set brown that went straight to Maria in the chair. Maria pushed herself to her feet and stood up to face the man. Sherlock looked at Maria, like as if there was something he wanted to know but didn't voice it just yet.

"Maria?" The man asked looking at her. "What are you doing here?"

"We can catch up later Steven," Maria said in a business like fashion. "You're only here now to help Sherlock and I find my mother."

"Oh…of course..." Steven said and Sherlock offered him a chair to sit. Sherlock glanced at Maria.

"Tell us what happened Steven." Maria said and Steven nodded.

"I realised something was wrong when she didn't come back the other night. The shops not far from our home. When she didn't come home that night, I thought maybe she'd been side-tracked and gone to a friend's you know how she is, easily distracted." Steven looked at Maria who nodded for him to continue.

"Well, the next day I called some of her friends and they all told me the same thing; No, why would she be here? So I decided to go to the police about it. And then they asked me  
questions and told me they would put someone onto it. Then I remembered, she'd always loved going on about a man named Sherlock Holmes. Said she knew him personally, that she'd known him as a child." Steven said looking over at Sherlock. "Every time you were mentioned in solving a case, on the telly or in the paper, she'd tell all her friends she knew you. So I asked if you could be brought into this case, but I never thought you'd be here Maria."

"I was discharged, I just haven't been around to see mother yet, and now this happens." Maria said with a small sigh as she leaned against the wall. Sherlock frowned slightly.

"Is that all we have to go off?" Sherlock asked. "I know for a fact Ange has a habit of wandering off on her own for days on end, she used to do it all the time when we were children, you shouldn't be so worried about it. Unless there's something you're not telling us?" He said looking down at Steven who sighed quietly. He reached into his top pocket and pulled out a letter.

"I received this the s'morning, it's a ransom note. I haven't told the police yet because I only just got it after I went to them," Steven explained as he offered it to Sherlock, who took it and passed it to Maria who opened it and read it aloud.

"I have your wife. If you want to see her alive again come to the old abandoned orphanage with $10,000 at 8pm tonight or she dies." She looked up at Sherlock. "Its cut and paste from papers and magazines, no way to identify hand-writing."

Sherlock began pacing around the room.

"We should go meet him." Sherlock finally suggested looking at Steven. "You won't go alone though."

Steven nodded. "But what about the money?" He asked looking up at Sherlock. "I haven't got those kinds of funds."

"You leave that up to us Steven." Maria said as she glanced at Sherlock. A silent moment of understanding seemed to happen between them, leaving Steven baffled. "I think you should go home and relax, leave this to us." Maria suggested and Steven agreed, standing up and taking his leave. The moment he was gone, Sherlock turned to Maria.

"Step-father, mother and father parted when I entered college then remarried the next year." Maria answered before he could ask. She pulled out her phone and flicked through the numbers lazily. Sherlock looked at her.

"Where's your father now though?"

"Back out on the farm where I grew up, he liked it out there, mother however preferred the city." She said before snapping her phone shut again and pushing herself off the wall. "I don't wanna talk about it any further." She said plainly before heading down to her room, leaving Holmes standing there, his mind buzzing to the sound of a new case and the events of last night.


	14. Mother

Chapter 14; Mother

Steven returned again that night. Maria was waiting for him, dressed and ready to go.

"Is Mr Holmes not coming?" Steven asked, seeing Maria before him. She shook her head.

"Sherlock wanted to accompany you but I insisted, it is my mother after all," She said looking at him. Steven nodded, he could understand that. Maria walked down the steps before she hailed a cab.

"Let's get going." She suggested opening the door for him. Steven got in first, Maria pausing to look up at the window to see Sherlock looking down, watching them. She gave him a small smile and a thumbs-up before getting into the cab and pulling the door shut.

Sherlock sighed as he watched the cab drive out of sight from his window. He was dressed in his pyjamas and intended to remain dormant while she was gone. He made sure to keep his phone on him though, in case Maria needed him to send in any help. He then moved away from the window, and returned to lying on the couch.

Maria remained silent in the cab as they drove along, her thoughts on weather her mother was alright or not. Steven glanced at her every so often but she didn't really want to talk to him to be honest. She'd honestly never approved of her mother's choices in boyfriends, or in this case; husbands. She sighed quietly to herself as they pulled up in front of the orphanage. Maria got out first, Steven following after her quickly.

"Now, just remember, pretend you have the funds and the minute my mother is out of danger, you take her and run; you hear me?" Maria said looking at him. Steven nodded and they proceeded inside. They made their way into the old mess hall to find a man sitting there, waiting for them. Next to him was Maria's mother. It was clear where Maria got most of her looks from, Angela had the same red hair and sky blue eyes just like Maria did.

"Maria!" She cried seeing her daughter standing with Stephen. "What are you..?" She started to speak but the man beside her slapped her.

"Shut-up!" He said forcefully. Maria clenched her jaw to avoid the temptation of killing him where he sat. She had been an army doctor, but it didn't mean she didn't know how to kill people; she had bad days. The man looked back at her, the balaclava hiding his features. She wanted nothing more than to go up to him and to whip off his mask and show his true face, but she stood put for the sake of her mother.

"Give me back my wife," Steven said before pulling out an envelope from the inside of his jacket. "I have your damn money." He threw it down on the table in front of him. Maria stood still as the man rose, bringing with him Angela. He pushed Angela towards Steven, who caught her, then picked up the envelope.

Steven quickly when to drag Angela away but the man stopped them quickly by pulling out a gun.

"Ah-ah-ah!" He said as all three of them put their hands up. With one hand he slowly opened the envelope, the other keeping the gun trained on them. The second he looked down, Maria was on him kicking the gun out of his hands and forcing him to the ground.

"Run!" Maria cried as she struggled slightly with the man. She kicked the gun further away as Steven grabbed hold of Angela and started to run, even though she called back to Maria. Maria swore as the man threw her off and dived for his gun.

"Oh no you don't!" She cried kicking him hard in the gut, causing him to choke slightly. She reached behind her and whipped out the gun she'd stashed. "Don't move."

The man froze on the ground, looking up at the gun pointed at him. Maria quickly whipped out her phone.

"Lestrade, I have your man."

20 minutes later the man was in custody of Lestrade and Maria was being fawned over by her mother, even as she tried to see if she'd sustained any injuries.

"Oh Maria, why didn't you call!" The woman cried clutching onto her daughter. Maria sighed and started to pry her mother from her shirt.

"Because I knew this would happen, that you would get like this…" Maria explained before hushing her as she checked for any signs of her being abused. When she found none, she was satisfied and pulled out her phone again.

"You want to come meet an old friend?" Maria asked looking down at her mother, who had shrunk slightly since she'd last seen her. Angela happily agreed and Maria called in to tell him the result.

"We'll be home in a few, I'm bringing mother with me; she wants to see you again." She said and she heard Sherlock inwardly groan. While her mother had her heart in the right place, sometimes her mind was a strange place to try and deduce. She was smart yes, but not a logical thinker. Maria one day knew it would inevitably be the end of her. She sighed softly herself as they all crammed into the back of a cab to catch a ride back to Bakers Street.

Sherlock was waiting for them, neatly dressed once again.

"Sherlock," Angela greeted going for a hug from the young genius. Grudgingly, he patted her awkwardly on the back.

"You look well Ange, how are you feeling?" Sherlock asked.

"Maria's seen to me, so I feel much better," Ange replied with a smile looking at her daughter. "You better be looking after her young man."

"I'm doing my best," Sherlock said looking at Maria, their eyes meeting briefly. He smiled slightly before Maria looked away, somewhat embarrassed all of a sudden. She was somewhat glad for the arrival of Mrs Hudson who announced there was a cab waiting for Ange and Steven. They both looked at Maria.

"I figured it was best for you to head home," Maria said planting a kiss on her mother's cheek. "I'll be in touch, I promise."

It was clear that Ange wanted to stay a little longer with her daughter, probably to question her on the slight tension there seemed to be between the two childhood friends, but Steven managed to convince her otherwise and they made their way out, following after Mrs Hudson, leaving Maria and Sherlock alone once again. Maria stepped away from him, walking over to stand facing the fireplace.

Sherlock stepped up behind her, reaching out and gently touched her shoulder. Maria turned her head to look at him. He grasped her jacket and pulled it off her, revealing the handgun stuffed into the back of her jeans.

"I kept it alright?" She said as she pulled it out and placed it down on the coffee table beside her. "I know I shouldn't have it."

"I understand why you still have it Maria," He said watching her carefully. "My mind is on another matter entirely." He reached out and took her wrist gently. "The matter of last night is what's bothering me." He turned her around to face him. Maria took a half step back and ended up in his armchair with Sherlock looming over her. He leaned down, his hands on the arm rests on either side of her, blocking her in. Maria's eyes widened as she looked at him.

"S-Sherlock?" She questioned quietly, his eyes piercing her own, like there was some question he wanted answered and for once she couldn't figure out what it was. Mrs Hudson, forever Maria's saviour from now, came barging back into the room causing Sherlock to stand upright in a hurry.

"There's a car waiting for you Sherlock, dear," Mrs Hudson said almost uncertainly, like she'd thought she'd interrupted something. Maria sank down slightly into the chair.

"I didn't order a car," He said plainly, clearly wanting to get back to questioning Maria.

"They're insisting Sherlock," Mrs Hudson urged and Sherlock caved with a sigh. He didn't both to pick up his coat, intending to come straight back up after telling them to leave. Maria joined Mrs Hudson at the window to watch as Sherlock stepped outside…and was immediately grabbed and forced into the car.

"Sherlock!" Maria cried as she found herself barging out the front door to watch the car speeding away. She turned around to find Mrs Hudson holding her coat.

"Go find him dear," The old woman said handing Maria her coat.

"Thank you!" Maria cried running after the car while she pulled on her coat.


	15. Beautiful

Chapter 15; Beautiful

Sherlock woke to find himself sitting in a chair at a table. It took him a few, disoriented seconds to realise where he was. The orphanage. So they had been hoping that Holmes would have come and Maria had been the unexpected factor, now it made sense. He groaned softly and realised he wasn't bound or anything; he had just been placed in the chair.

"Ah, the princess has awoken," A voice said and Sherlock looked around. A man was walking towards him. He wasn't someone that Sherlock recognised, just like the men who had grabbed him less than 20 minutes beforehand. He was tall and quite handsome, at least he would be by some women's standards, and was wearing a neat suit and tie to top it off. Sherlock read everything he could before turning away, bored.

"You wanted me all along." Sherlock stated, sounding bored.

"Of course," The man said, walking over casually to sit down across from him. "Sending that woman was just a delay you know."

"She insisted," Sherlock said bluntly watching the man carefully. "Who are you?"

"I work for someone important, who seems to think you are nosing around in his business." The man replied coolly, watching Holmes. "Can I ask you something, Mr Holmes?"

"Depends what it is?" Sherlock said, leaning back in his seat

"What do you think beauty is Mr Holmes?"

"I don't think anything…" Sherlock drifted off as a lock of red hair was produced and flaunted in front of his face. Maria's hair.

"So you don't think this is beautiful?" He asked, curling it around his finger.

"How did you get that?" Sherlock asked, hiding his curiosity. It was hard to get the drop on Maria when she was in work mode. Did that mean they had broken into Bakers Street?

"Answer my question and I'll answer yours," He offered. Sherlock sighed.

"Dull." He murmured before answering properly. "I think it's beautiful."

"A friend got it for me. Says you've got an attachment to the woman it's from. I'm curious to know Mr Holmes, what is it you see in her?"

Sherlock blinked slowly at the question.

"For a start, she's not beautiful," He began slowly.

At the same time Maria was running down a side alley, her red hair spewing out behind her as her eyes danced around, trying to spot the car which had taken Holmes from Baker Street. She knew it couldn't be far, she hadn't taken that long to figure out the path it could've taken around the confined streets of London.

"She's radiant, like the sun, her hair is the rays that blind anyone who looks for too long…" Sherlock continued, staring off into space.

There! She'd spotted it behind an eight foot fence. They must have come from the other side. She hit the fence and found it didn't seem to want to give even though it looked about ready to fall. With a growl she took a few steps back before running forwards and jumping at the fence. She grabbed hold of it and began to scale it.

"She's a bit like a burning fire, consuming everything in her path, only everything she touches she makes so much more wonderful…"

Maria reached the top, flipped over it and landed gracefully on the other side. She ducked down and scampered over to the car and glanced inside. No sign of either of them. She cussed under her breath before darting off into the building through a side door.

"She's a fighter, though she won't come to me with her fears and doubts, only when the emotions become too much for her to handle herself."

Maria finally reached a door that she collided with solidly, sending her sprawling to the ground. She got up and realised the door was locked. She inspected the lock and decided it wasn't worth her time picking it. She took a few steps back, took a deep breath then charged at the door. It was clear it wasn't made for an army woman to come barging through it like that as the hinges broke and the door fell with a thud.

"Whoops…" Maria muttered before she rushed through.

"She's strong; she's carried many men off the battlefield in her time. She fights for what she believes in, her family, queen and country…love…"

Maria was on a roll, bolting up a flight of stairs to the next floor. That was when she chanced a look out the window to see the light on in the window a floor up and across from her in the building next to the one she was in. Eyes widening she charged for up the next flight of stairs.

"And the most beautiful thing is her heart. Unbroken, untamed. She is a free, wild spirit that I dare not tie down. She took a torn and broken soul like mine and made me whole again…just by saying my name. Sherlock finished, looking at the man across from him. "That is what I see in her."

"Do you love her Mr Holmes?"

"Love? I've been informed I don't have a heart by some, but I do and when I look at it, she's already carved her name all over it, claiming it as her own. If that's what you call love, then yes, I love her very much."

The man sitting opposite Holmes grinned slightly.

"Right then," He said before pulling out a slip of paper from within his jacket and sliding it across the table to Holmes. He stood up. "I guess we're done here," He said producing a gun and pointing it at Sherlock's head. "Thanks for the talk, it's been gre-" He was cut off by a bullet digging itself into his chest. He looked surprised as he fell and hit the ground. In an instant Sherlock was up out of his chair and darting over to the window to look through the bullet hole in the window. The shoot appeared to have vanished already. Hearing the cries of the dying man, Sherlock moved back over to him swiftly.

"Tell me the name of your employer…Tell me!" Sherlock cried, standing over the dying man, who simply coughed slightly. Sherlock sighed and grabbed his arm and twisted sharply. "Tell me!"

"Moriarty!" The man shouted with his last breath before he fell still. Sherlock sighed softly.

Sherlock soon found himself sitting on the back of a paramedic's truck.

"Why do they keep putting this blanket on me?" Sherlock asked when Lestrade had finally walked over to him.

"It's for shock."

"I'm not in shock." He said sourly before standing up. "Any sign of the shooter?"

"They must have cleared off before we arrived," Lestrade said before looking at him expectantly. "Know anything?"

"The shooter had a clean line of sight but didn't fire until I was in immediate danger which suggests strong moral grounds. Bullet was from a handgun, correct? The shooter would have to have had steady nerves, perhaps a military background…." Sherlock faded off seeing Maria running towards him.

"Sherlock, good lord!" She cried, stopping beside him and grabbing his arm tightly, almost too tightly. "Poor dear you must be in shock," She gushed pulling the blanket tighter around him. "I'm taking you home right now, doctors orders." She said before throwing and arm around his waist, intending to drag him off.

"But I still have questions…" Lestrade said, but it didn't stop Maria.

"Tomorrow Lestrade!" Maria called back as a promise before dragging Sherlock off scene.

"Good shot," Sherlock whispered to her once they were far enough away. Maria smirked slightly.

"It's nice to know my aim hasn't faltered." She said looking up at him as he swung an arm around her shoulders. Once they reached the main road, Maria flagged down a cab before pulling Sherlock in after her. Much to her surprise, as soon as the door shut behind him, he let his head fall straight into her lap/  
"Sherlock?" Maria asked sounding confused.

"Something's wrong…" He mumbled into her leg. With a sigh she placed a hand on his forehead.

"You're burning up," She said.

"That'll do it," He said turning his head to look up at her. She sighed again.

"You really are going to be confined to Bakers street if you carry on like this. You barely eat, you barely sleep, no wonder you're starting to get sick…" She said absently running her fingers through his hair. Sherlock let out a small noise that Maria took as a cross between a sigh and a groan. She continued gently petting his head, letting a small giggle come forth.

"What's so funny?" Sherlock asked, glancing at her.

"You." She answered simply.


	16. Love the Fall

Chapter 16; Love the Fall

Sherlock woke the next morning to find himself wrapped up snugly in his bed. His head pounded slightly, even after the medicine Maria had almost force-fed him last night before she'd put him to bed. For once he couldn't hear music playing down the hall.

Slowly, Sherlock detangled himself from his sheets and stood, swaying slightly as he stumbled his way out into the kitchen to get a glass of water. On his way back to his room he found the room spinning suddenly. The glass slipped from his grasp, scattering everywhere, causing Maria to come out from her room. Seeing Sherlock up and around she moved over to him, just in time to catch him when he fell over. They ended up on their knees on the floor.

"Go back to bed Sherlock…" Maria said as she helped him up and put him back in his room. With a sigh she cleaned up the glass pieces before moving into the kitchen to begin cooking breakfast. She decided to make bacon and eggs for a change from toast. Sherlock did need to eat more. She pulled out the pans and the ingredients and began to cook. Halfway through, Sherlock stumbled out to sit down at the table, like a little kid.

He watched her as she worked, his mind thinking back on the things he's said last night. Half of it he hadn't known where it had come from but it was what he believed. He stared at her back, his mind wandering places. Maria glanced over her shoulder at him.

"What's the matter?" She asked turning on the gas and putting the pan on it before throwing in the bacon.

"I'm just thinking…about my heart. I had an interesting conversation last night…about emotions…" He said slowly looking up at her. Maria turned around to face him.

"Any in particular?" She asked curiously.

"My emotions towards you. I fear people who work against us know how much I care for you and how far I would go to protect you," He said looking at her. Maria blinked slowly.

"What kind of emotions are they?"

"I don't know." He said honestly, his eyes meeting hers. With a small sigh Maria turned back to her food. She was silent as Sherlock remembered the other night, the night Mycroft had called upon her. He didn't say anything though as she turned around with a plate of bacon and eggs for him, alongside some pills he had to take. She placed it in front of him before she walked out into the lounge room.

"You're not going to eat?" Sherlock called as she opened the door to head downstairs.

"I'll eat later, I'm just going to pick up the mail," She called before closing the door. Sherlock wasn't alone long before Mrs Hudson was bustling in with some shopping. She chattered happily as she started unpacking things onto the bench as he ate.

"Mrs Hudson…" Sherlock began slowly, causing the woman to turn and look at him.

"What is it dear?"

"What's it like…to fall in love, emotionally?" It was a strange question for Sherlock to ask. He found himself wondering if it had anything to do with his sickness.

Mrs Hudson stopped and turned to look at him.

"Is this, about Maria?" She asked slowly and Sherlock raised his eyes to her.

"My body betrays me, though I doubt she's noticed; and I feel the distance she's holding herself at from me." He said, resting his head down on the table.

"Maybe she's unsure Sherlock, I mean you were childhood friends and perhaps she's having trouble coming to terms with living with you now, a fully grown man not a child." Mrs Hudson suggested before she busied her hands with putting away the shopping.

"She knows very well how she feels…" Sherlock murmured, looking down at his fingertips where Maria's pulse had been. Had Maria been a bit quicker with retrieving the mail, she could have heard those fated words. However, she came back into the kitchen to find Mrs Hudson had left and Sherlock fast asleep on the tabletop, his breakfast left half uneaten. She placed the paper and mail down before she shook Sherlock gently.

"If you going to sleep, at least go back to bed," She said and he silently agreed before getting up and shuffling off to bed. Maria sighed and sat down and began to sort through the mail. Mostly they seemed to be bills. With a sigh she began through them, making notes about where their money needed to be. She needed a job, just something to at least keep them afloat. She sighed and stood again, beginning to clear away the dishes only to realise Sherlock hadn't taken his medicine. She took a glass of water with her as she went down to his room.

"You need to take this if you plan on getting better," She told him, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

"I'm not a child Maria." He said taking the pills and downing them with the water.

"I know." She said before standing up and leaving.

Maria set about cleaning up the apartment. It needed a bit of attention from a woman, so she rolled up her sleeves and dug into it. She'd only been cleaning about 20 minutes, mopping the floor, when there was a knock on the door before Lestrade came bursting in, and slipped on the water on the floor and went tumbling to the ground with a crash.

"Holy!" Maria cried, pulling out her headphones and looking around to see Lestrade flat on his back, groaning softly. Maria hurried over to help him up as Sherlock stumbled out, the noise having woke him.

"What's wrong?" He asked, seeing Maria helping Lestrade to his feet.

"Detective Lestrade just slipped is all," Maria explained as she put the man back on his feet like she would a child.

"You're quite strong for a woman," Lestrade commented, dusting himself off. "Anyway, Sherlock, there's been a murder, need you on scene 10 minutes ago."

Before Sherlock could reply, or even move, Maria stopped him.

"Oh no Sherlock is off duty," She said starting to push Lestrade to the door. "After last night's horror he is running a fever and I'm not letting him out." She said pushing the detective out the door.

"But…" Lestrade tried to insist.

"Do your own damn job! I'm his doctor and I say NO! Good day Lestrade." She said before shutting the door.

"That was harsh Maria," Sherlock said before she turned on him and shooed him off to bed again so she could continue cleaning. It wasn't long before someone else came knocking at the door. At least now the floor was dry enough that no-one could slip on it as Maria opened it.

"I've come to see Mr Holmes, I have a problem." The man said quietly.

"I'm sorry, Mr Holmes isn't taking any clients today-" Both Maria and the man jumped at the sound of the gunshot that echoed down. The man turned his terrified gaze to Maria. "As I was going to say, Mr Holmes is bedridden and ill, good day," She said before shutting the door. She turned on her motherly glare before proceeding upstairs to find Sherlock sprawled across his bed, aiming at a smiley face he'd drawn on the wall.

"Bored." He said simply as Maria entered the room. With a groan, she took the gun from him and took the bullets from it, tucking them away in her pocket before stuffing the gun into the front pocket of the apron she'd put on.

"You look like my mother," He said, twisting his head to look at her.

"And your acting like a child." Maria snapped back before walking over to him and standing over him. He looked up at her, blinking slowly. With a frown Maria sat down next to him and placed a hand on his forehead. He was burning up something bad and it seemed to be starting to affect him, just from the way he was playing with the end of her apron.

"Sherlock," Maria said quietly and he turned his head to look at her. "How do you feel?"

"Hot….really hot…" He muttered before pushing himself to sit up against the headboard. He absently began to start unbuttoning his shirt and Maria quickly stopped him. He whined at her and tried to push her hands away but she had a firm grip.

"Maybe have a cold shower?"

"Do you intend to help me?"

"I'm not your mother Sherlock!"

"Then stop acting like it," He said prying her hands off him. Maria looked up to meet his gaze. Slowly, Sherlock leaning in and for a second Maria thought he was going to kiss her, however at the last moment he simply collapsed, his head falling straight into her lap. Maria was still for a moment before she sighed.

"You know, I really want to smother you with a pillow right now…"

Sherlock laughed softly.

When he woke next, the house was dark and silent and Maria was gone. It had to be very late at night. He however felt much better; Maria's medicine seemed to have started working though he knew he wasn't perfectly well yet. He stood up, letting the world stop spinning before he made his way out into the living room, to find Maria fast asleep on the couch. Looking around, Sherlock realised she'd cleaned the entire apartment, including his room when he'd slept. Everything was neat and well organised to a standard where they could both find everything. Even his skull had been polished. She'd done all this, while he'd done nothing but sleep all day.

He looked over at Maria before finding a blanket and throwing it over her. He knew she wouldn't wake, she'd always been a deep sleeper and the nightmares seemed to have given tonight a miss as she had been exhausted. Kneeling down beside her, he managed to sneak a pillow underneath her head as well. He stayed there for a moment, gently pushing a lock of hair away from her face. A memory played softly in his head.

_"Do you love her Mr Holmes?"_

_"Love? I've been informed I don't have a heart by some, but I do and when I look at it, she's already carved her name all over it, claiming it as her own. If that's what you call love, then yes, I love her very much."_

Maria's head gently rolled to the side and for a moment Sherlock thought he'd woken her but when she continued her gentle breathing, he knew he was safe. She needed the rest but he couldn't help but wonder…wonder what it would be like to kiss her.

She never really wore lipstick, her lips always that lovely natural shade of pink. When she moved, a lock of hair fell across her face once again and Sherlock tucked it back again before he threw caution to the wind, just for a moment, and leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. She stirred for a moment; Sherlock's heart throbbed in his chest from fear of her waking, before she rolled over and continued to sleep on. He sighed gently, a hand over his heart before he stood silently, and left the room.

Unbeknownst to Sherlock, they were being watched from across the street.

"…And so, the alabaster prince finally kisses himself a princess." A soft voice commented softly, lowering his binoculars before moving away from the window that overlooked 221b Bakers street.


	17. A New Rival

Chapter 17; A New Rival

The next morning Maria found herself sitting up at the table quiet early, clutching a cup of coffee. She hadn't slept much last night but she'd had a wonderful dream, a dream in which Sherlock had kissed her. Of course, she'd never believe it had actually happened. She took another sip of her coffee, before Sherlock came in to find her already up.

"Did you put the blanket on me last night?" Maria asked. She'd been very surprised this morning to wake and find herself with a pillow and blanket on the couch.

"I would have moved you but I didn't want to wake you," He replied with a shrug, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"How are you feeling?" She asked and he nodded.

"Better. Not as dizzy." He said before sitting down beside her.

"Can't be bothered cooking this morning, too tired, just make yourself some toast, I can go without for a little while longer," She said, nodding towards the toaster which was sitting out on the bench. He nodded and began to make his breakfast. Maria flicked open the paper beside her straight to the jobs section. She'd decided seeing as there wasn't much to do; she should at least try and look for a job today. After a few moments of scanning she stopped.

"Barts Hospital are looking for a doctor huh?" She said aloud to herself before moving. She retrieved her laptop and printed off the resume she'd been working on recently. She put her laptop away before going and getting dressed. Sherlock watched her silently. He knew that he couldn't stop her, but a job would hinder her from helping him. Maria came back into the kitchen to find Sherlock munching down on some toast.

"You can have clients today, try not to cough on them, I'll be back within the hour," She said in a rush, walking over to him and kissing his forehead. She went to leave but Sherlock stopped her for a moment.

"Can you get sick from being exposed to me? I don't want to get you sick…"

"I've taken precautions, I should be alright," Maria said with a grin before she ducked downstairs past Mrs Hudson to leave.

Upon arriving she found that the lady at the desk was less helpful that she would have hoped, but took Maria's resume anyway and sent her through to talk to apparently the head doctor.

"Maria, is it?" He asked holding out a hand to her which she shook.

"Ah, Yes, I'm afraid I didn't catch your name?"

"Call me Hugh, Hugh Peterson," He said with a smile. He had a firm grip, Maria noticed. He was tall with dark brown hair.

"Did you have a falling out with your brother, is that why you're not going to his wedding today?" Maria asked without thinking and immediately regretted it. That was a Sherlock like thing to do.

"Excuse me?" Well she was already screwed, might as well show off.

"The red in your eyes suggests you did some serious drinking last night, the fact you're a doctor and you seem like quite the sober man suggests that it means this was a once off occasion, thus probably a bucks night for someone your quite close to. The note on your desk is a wedding invitation for today; the male party is the last name same as yours, so brother. You went to his buck's night last night, but you're not at the wedding and here listening to me instead, that suggests you probably had some kind of argument with him resulting in you being here and not there."

Hugh blinked slowly at her.

"W-Wow…"

"I should go; I've probably ruined any chance I had now. I apologise, that's been locked up for too long…" Maria said going to stand but Hugh stopped her.

"You're right…your completely right," He said before smiled. "You got all that with just a few looks at me?"

Maria chuckled nervously.

"It's a curse; usually I don't explode like that," She said rubbing the back of her head.

Hugh laughed quietly.

"Well Dr Maron, I don't think your chances here are ruined. In fact if you can read patients like that I think there might be a place for you here." He said straightening out some paper and looking at her with a smile. "Here, take these home and read through these and sign them and I'll hope to see you here first thing Monday morning."

Maria grinned and stood, taking the papers.

"That you will," She said with a smile before heading to the door. She paused, looking down at the bunch of papers for a moment, pulling out what looked like a hastily stashed in corner rip-off. She turned to look at Hugh for a moment before back down at the number scrawled on it.

"Maybe after I start working here I'll consider it," Maria said with a small laugh before walking out.


	18. Date

Chapter 18; Date

Monday finally rolled around again. Sherlock was well again and Maria had managed to keep Hugh a secret for herself, at least for now. Sherlock was working a small case that apparently didn't require Maria's help, so she was free to go to work. It was a nice feeling to get back on a job and to help people. Hugh constantly kept coming to check on her though, and she kind of found it sweet. She finished up for the day and Hugh came and found her once again.

"So I was wondering…uhm…"

"I like the movies," Maria said with a smirk as she looked up at him, collecting her coat. "I live at 221 B Bakers street, you can pick me up…oh, round eightish. I still need to make sure my roommate eats dinner. I've gotta run, my friend left his riding crop in the mortuary," She said pulling on her coat before heading to the door.

"R-Right..." Hugh said quietly to himself once she was gone. She was something else.

Maria arrived back at the apartment to find Sherlock in a frenzy, rushing around the apartment. He stopped seeing her though.

"Good, Maria, I need your help. I have a feeling you've put it away somewhere but I can't find my harpoon."  
"It's in your cupboard at the back; it was too conspicuous in the front window," Maria said taking off her coat and glancing at the time. She had a few hours to relax. She went into the kitchen and began cleaning up his chemistry set off the table as the sounds of Sherlock searching through his cupboard echoes down to her. Once the table was clear she set on making a start on dinner.

Sherlock came back down a few minutes later, clutching his harpoon.

"Don't bother with making dinner, we're going out tonight I'll need your assistance."

"I can't," Maria said stopping and turning to him.

"What? Why?" Sherlock demanded looking at her firmly. "You said you would help me."

"You said I wasn't needed tonight. Sherlock I have a date tonight!"

Sherlock stopped dead, the harpoon falling from his grip to hit the floor with a crash.

"W-what?" He asked, his hand suddenly curling into a fist. Maria…had a date? "With who? You never said anything about this?!"

"He's a guy from the hospital, you don't know him. I don't see why this is such a big fuss Sherlock, you survived cases without me before."

"But you promise-"

"I know I did but Sherlock I want to go! God damn it!" Maria cried, slamming her fist down on the countertop, accidentally smashing a plate under her fist. She swore and pulled her hand away to find it bleeding quite heavily.

"Maria…" Sherlock started towards her.

"Don't come near me!" She cried throwing out her good hand to ward him off, keeping her bleeding hand clutched into herself. Sherlock stopped and looked down at the hand. His face darkened for a moment before he simply picked up his harpoon and stalked to his room, slamming the door loud enough for Maria to hear. Maria sighed, clutching her bleeding hand. It didn't take her long to wrap it up carefully and clean up the mess of the broken plate.

She wanted to go and apologise to Sherlock. She loved him, very much, but she saw a relationship with him would be impossible. He was always jumping from one idea to the next and she could barely keep up some days. She tried her best though, for him she always tried her best but some days he was just too much to handle. She made a sandwich and put it on a fresh plate before finally backing up some courage to go down to his room and speak with him.

She knocked softly on the door and Sherlock's replying voice sounded too quiet. She opened the door to find him sitting on the bed, head in his hands.

"I brought you a sandwich…" Maria said putting down on the bedside table. "And I'm sorry for yelling and not telling you. But you need to understand something Sherlock. You need to understand that sometimes this will happen where I'll go out on dates and such…instead of working with you alright?"

Sherlock didn't answer at first, he raised his head and looked at her for a moment before he got up and hugged her gently.

"I understand…" He said quietly. _'It doesn't mean I accept it….'_ He added in his mind. He looked down at her and patted her hair absently, smiling at the way she complained. He frowned though when he saw her hand all wrapped up.

"You did a good job then," He commented, catching her hand and looking at it.

"Yeah, I'm hoping he doesn't ask how it happened," She said with a laugh, causing Sherlock to scowl slightly. He still had a hold of her hand so he brought it up to his lips and kissed her injury gently leaving Maria slightly stunned. He dropped her hand and sat down, picking up her sandwich. Maria seemed to find her senses, and she left Sherlock alone.

She went straight into her room and began throwing around clothes. She had to have something nice to wear out! She started through her closet, pulling out this that and the other and throwing them on the bed to sort through them. It was too cold for a dress, not to mention every dress she owned was more fancy wear then casual, and she wanted to be casual.

She decided jeans would be at least a start, now all she had to do was find a shirt. She threw a few more shirts on the bed before going through them again, each time trying them on, looking at herself in the mirror, then throwing it off again when she felt it wasn't right. Finally she settled on a long sleeved green shirt. It was a green that contrasted her hair nicely. It suited her quite well.

"How do I look?" Maria asked coming out to find Sherlock in the kitchen washing his plate.

"Nice…" He mumbled absently, dragging his eyes away from her back to his plate. She did look quite nice though. He turned back to her and frowned for a moment.

"The bottom is all funny," He noted, moving over to pull down the bottom of her shirt, fixing it. Without really meaning to, his hands resting on her hips for a little longer than was necessary. He quickly realised his mistake and pulled his hands back in a hurry, turning around without looking at her.

"Sherlock…?" Maria asked, reaching out to him, just as the doorbell rang. She pulled back her hand and went to answer it. Hugh was standing there waiting.

"Hey, just let me grab my coat and we can go," Maria said, making her way back up into the apartment to grab her coat. She looked at Sherlock, who was still standing at the sink, before saying a quiet goodbye and moving back downstairs to Hugh. Sherlock turned to watch her go, before moving over to the window to watch them leave via the waiting cab. Before his mind seemed to realise what he was doing, his hands had grabbed his coat and pulled it on, flicking the collar up. Maria would probably kill him for this later but he had to know she was going to be alright in this man's care. Without another thought, he hurried out the door.


	19. A Study in Jealousy

Chapter 19; A Study in Jealousy

Maria and Hugh were dropped off in front of the cinema. Hugh offered her his arm as they made their way in.

"What do you wanna see?"

"Whatever's fine," Maria replied glancing around the lobby. Little did she know; Sherlock ad followed her on her date. Hugh pointed out where the food was and suggested that he'd get tickets and Maria could get the snacks. Maria quickly agreed and limped off to get popcorn and drinks. They met in the middle and Maria snuck a glance at the tickets. It was the same movie she'd gone to see with Sherlock the day they'd spent out on the town together. That felt like so long ago to her though.

Hugh handed over the tickets and they walked into the theatre and found a good spot halfway up. Maria was so busy talking; she didn't notice the man in the familiar coat walk in and take a spot a few rows behind them. Maria found herself barely paying attention to the movie, having seen it before recently, keeping just enough attention on it as to not make Hugh think she was bored or anything. She didn't want him to think she was bored.

The movie finished and they walked out onto the street together, laughing and chatting.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Hugh asked, offing his arm again which she took with a small smile. They walked along, talking casually. Maria found herself explaining her friendship with Sherlock.

"I met when we were 9, he was brilliant even then," She explained, thinking back.

"I never would have thought you would be connected to him, but then again I guess it explains how you were able to read all those things about me so easily," Hugh praised and Maria blushed slightly.

"He taught me everything about deduction," Maria said as they stopped right before a bridge.

"I see his name in the papers occasionally, he's a detective right?"

"Consulting detective," Maria corrected. "The police don't go to amateurs."

"So what does that make you?"

"His assistant, on occasion. My medical knowledge far exceeds his own and I'm the only person he really works with. A chess piece he doesn't control."

"And is everyone else his pawns?" Hugh asked.

"That's a cruel way of putting it." Maria said, blinking. "True, he does use people to his advantage, I know this, but only if you stand in his way. Stay out of his way and he has no reason to use you."

"He sounds a bit like a psychopath."

"He's a high-functioning sociopath." Maria snapped suddenly. It wasn't a surprise that he'd drilled that thought into her head as well. Hugh was left stunned and blinking. They stood there for a few moments before their silence was broken by a scream.

"Thief!"

The man came barrelling down past Maria and Hugh and charged onto the bridge. Maria wasn't on to stop and before Hugh could stop her, she was charging after the man. He leapt up onto the side railing on the bridge and proceeded to run across it, Maria hoisting herself up onto it to follow him. She was quick and easily gained on him. The bridge was quiet long and they were easily over a deep part of the water now, still running precariously close to the edge.

When she was almost within arm's reach of the man, he whirled around and struck out at her with the handbag he'd stolen. Maria stumbled, her knee giving way, and tumbled off the side of the bridge, plummeting into the water below. A figure from the watching crowd burst forward, leaping up and over the railing and dived into the water after Maria. Hugh ran over to the railing to watch in anticipation for Maria and the man who'd dived in after her.

They broke the surface a few seconds later, Maria gasping for air. Her saviour held onto her as he swam over to the bank and hauled them both up, several people coming over to help them up. Maria pushed her hair off her face to look at her hero.

"_Sherlock?!_" Maria asked incredulously as he stood up and rung out his scarf. Hugh came barrelling over and helped Maria up, asking in a panicked voice if she was alright.

"I'm fine, really," Maria said, trying to quieten him down. "That man got away though." Hugh was stunned by the fact she didn't seem to care that she was drenched and shaking from the cold. Hugh tried to take off his jacket and give it to her, but Sherlock beat him to it, throwing his soaking wet coat around Maria and pulling her over to his side.

"You're supposed to protect her," He snapped at Hugh, who flinched back slightly.

"Geez man, calm down, she's alright now isn't she?" Hugh replied reaching out to grab Maria's arm, only to have Sherlock slap it away.

"You can't be trusted with her; you let her fall off that bridge!" Sherlock cried angrily and Hugh stopped.

"I let her fall off the bridge? She ran after a thief and it's my fault!" Hugh demanded.

"I don't blame you Hugh," Maria said quickly before turning on Sherlock. "Stop it, stop it now." She ordered but Sherlock wasn't listening.

"Maybe you should man up and chase after the guy yourself instead of letting a fragile woman do a man's job!" Sherlock cried and Maria snapped. She ripped off Sherlock's coat and threw it in his face.

"Go home now!" Maria shouted, pointing in the general direction of home. "Now!" She repeated when he didn't move. He seemed to have realised his mistake and sulked off. Maria sighed and turned to Hugh who was watching him walk away.

"I'm so sorry about this, I'll see you tomorrow." She said, ducking forward to plant a kiss on his cheek before following after Sherlock. She caught up to him just as a cab stopped beside them. They got in silently. Maria waited until they were home and dry before she lost it. Normally she was good but once her temper reached that point she just snapped. Sherlock looked and felt like nothing more than a child under the scolding he received from her. Once she was finished, she sighed and dropped into the seat on the couch next to him.

"I'm not a child, I'm not fragile," She repeated, crossing her arms. Sherlock looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"But you bleed," He said taking hold of the wrist on her injured hand. "Why did he let you do something so stupid and reckless and..."

"Sherlock. Stop. I brought it upon myself; you of all people should know what I'm like." Maria snapped and he fell silent again. She noticed his hand was still clamped around her wrist. He sighed quietly, grasping her wrist tighter for a moment before letting go completely. "Thank-you for saving me though. You are an idiot still for forgetting until recently you were ill." She finally added and Sherlock smiled slightly before he stood and moved to his room.

He was an idiot. He should have known that this day would come; he should have known that someday some other man would swoop in and sweep Maria off her feet. And he knew that man would never be him even though he knew now, what had been truth all along; He, Sherlock Holmes, was in love with Maria Maron.


	20. You Can't Pick Your Family

Chapter 20; You can't pick your Family

Sherlock woke the next morning to what was now a familiar greeting. Rock music playing down the hallway from the kitchen, where Maria was undoubtedly preparing to go to work for the day. He however would be seeing clients, right after he cleaned up his last case. He rose and dressed and proceeded down to the kitchen to find Maria making breakfast.

"Morning," Maria said, glancing at him over her shoulder as she flipped the eggs onto the waiting plates.

"Morning..." Sherlock replied, fishing the paper out from under the pile of letters on the table. "Your father wrote to you?"

Maria inwardly groaned. She'd tried her best to hide that letter among the rest so he wouldn't notice. There wasn't much she could hide from him though. She turned around with plates in hand, and put down his breakfast in front of him. It was two eggs and a piece of bacon in the shape of a smiley face. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she just grinned and sat down, picking up the letter from her father.

"Mum called him, told him what happened and because she didn't have a number or anything to give him, he wrote to me instead," Maria explained looking down at the letter. "He's inviting us to come out and visit the farm…"

She put down the letter and began to tuck into her food. Sherlock looked at her.

"We should go, you could use some time away from London." He finally said before munching down on his eggs. Maria paused.

"Wait…you want to go?" She asked and he shrugged.

"Cases are running a little cold recently, and you haven't seen your father in years," He said before devouring the rest of his breakfast. He stood, took his plate to the sink and stood there, watching her.

"You wouldn't mind?" She asked and Sherlock smiled slightly.

"No. When's he asked you to come down?"

"This weekend. He's given me his number so I can call him."

"Call him then, tell him we'll be there."

So she did. Martin seemed thrilled that they would both come to stay and said he'd make sure their rooms were ready for them when they arrived Friday night.

Their week carried on like normal, a small case rose up around Wednesday, but Holmes had it figured out by Thursday lunchtime no problem. Maria continued to work, Hugh taking to dropping in every chance he got to "check" on her. They didn't speak again of the disaster of their first date, but he did offer to take her out again. She was glad he wasn't ignoring her at least. Friday finally rolled around and she returned to the apartment to find Sherlock packing.

She hadn't even begun to pack and it took her a while to find her case, which Sherlock had stuffed away somewhere for her. Then she just proceeded to throw all her oldest and messiest clothes in. She was going out to the farm, no point in looking nice. Sherlock came to her door to see how she was going.

"At least take something nice," He commented, seeing what she was packing. "We might go out for dinner or something."

Maria looked at him and raised an eyebrow, but grabbed a dress, flashed it in front of him and stuffed it in her bag.

"Someone's feeling sassy," He commented before pushing himself off the wall and walking away. Maria had to laugh softly to herself at that. She was feeling sassy, just knowing that in a few hours time she would be seeing her father.

As they left, Mrs Hudson attacked them with goodbyes and they almost had to run to shake her off. All Maria knew was that Sherlock was hiring a car to drive down to the farm with. She was trusting him just this once to drive without killing them. Last time she'd seen him drive a car it had been a disaster in which a few bystanders almost got caught up in the fiasco.

The car was waiting for them outside and after they threw their stuff in, Maria took no time in capturing control of the music player and playing her music, much to Sherlock's annoyance. She just laughed him off and turned it up as they drove. They drove for a few hours; Maria handling the navigation as Sherlock had no clue where he was going aside from the fact it was a farm.

Finally they arrived, rolling into the driveway just as the night fell around them. It felt like stepping back in time for Maria. The house still looked the same as it did all those years ago when they'd left for London. As soon as Sherlock pulled up, Maria was out, running over to a nearby tree. Her father had thought to leave her tree house there. She had to fight the temptation to climb up and see if everything was still there. Instead she turned to look at the old two-story house. She smiled to herself.

Sherlock calling out to her broke through her thoughts. She ran back over to him, taking her bag from the car before they walked up to the front door together and knocked. Martin answered the door almost instantly.

"Maria," He said opening his arms wide and engulfing her in a fatherly hug.

"Dad," She said with a grin, patting him on the back. He welcomed them inside.

"I haven't seen you in years Sherlock, how are you son?" Martin asked as they made their way into the dining room.

"Very well. I've been working cases and such." He replied casually as Martin invited them to sit down and leave their things by the door.

"I'm so excited that you've decided to spend the weekend with me Maria, it gets lonely around here." Martin said as they sat down at the table.

"Martin did I hear guests?" A female voice asked from the kitchen before a woman came into view.

"Ah yes, this is Tracy, she helps me around the farm and what not," Martin said.

"I bet she does more than that…" Sherlock muttered under his breath, causing Maria to stamp on his foot underneath the table. She shot him a look that clearly told him to be nice or she would hit him again. Martin didn't seem to notice their exchange.

"Why don't you get them some drinks Tracy, they've just driven down from London and their probably tired," He suggested and Maria declined for them.

"I think its best we just go to our rooms and put our stuff away and then we can talk; I figure you have a lot to ask."

"That sounds like a plan then."

They moved their things to their rooms for the weekend before all sitting down in the lounge room to talk. Martin wanted to know all about what they had been up to and Maria was slightly hesitant to mention the war, but she managed to spell out enough for them not to ask any further. Sherlock also got to show off his skill to Tracy, who had never heard of the consulting detective before. She couldn't believe he could tell so much from so little.

Finally Martin decided they should all go to bed when Maria almost fell asleep on Sherlock's shoulder. Maria stumbled up to her room with the help of Sherlock before she simply collapsed into bed and fell asleep.


	21. Her Life Before London

Chapter 21; Her Life Before London

Sherlock was woken the next morning to the sound of Maria knocking on his door. He opened it to find her fully dressed already wearing jeans and strangely enough an open plaid shirt with her favourite green shirt underneath.

"The days wasting, I promised dad we'd fed the animals, Tracy's gunna drive us down there," She said excitedly, almost bouncing up and down with excitement. Sherlock looked down at her with a raised eyebrow before he sighed, shut the door and got dressed in his usual attire. When he reopened the door, Maria was still standing there. She frowned at his outfit.

"We're on a farm Sherly, you can't wear a suit," She said before barging into his room and proceeding to go through his bag. She pulled out a more appropriate shirt, a white button up, and threw it to him.

"Put that on and hurry up, your breakfast is going cold!" She called as she left the room to head back downstairs. Sherlock joined her a few minutes later, looking less formal and, in Maria's opinion, more appropriate for farmyard work. They talked while they ate, and Sherlock couldn't help but notice how Maria seemed so much fuller of life than she did back in London. Clearly her father hadn't been the only one who missed the country. Once they had finished eating, Maria practically dragged Sherlock and Tracy out the door to the waiting Ute.

When Sherlock tried to get in the cabin, the two girls laughed and together threw him in the back with the hay before Maria leapt up with him. She grabbed hold of the rack at the start of the tray and called "Hang on!" as Tracy took off. It was lucky Sherlock had grabbed hold when he did, else he would have gone tumbling off the end. Tracy was a speeder, he'd deduced that much last night but at he'd at least thought he would have been in the cabin and not clutching on for dear life in the tray.

Seeing his almost terrified expression as he clambered up to stand beside her, Maria couldn't help but throw back her head and laugh loudly, the wind throwing her hair back off her face. Sherlock turned to her with a glare only to see her quickly duck. He blinked and turned back to the front in time to receive a tree branch to the face, which nearly knocked him off the tray once again. Maria popped back up with another laugh as Sherlock clutched his now sore nose. It was already clear; he was not cut out for this.

Tracy sped down across the paddock, drove through a gate then came to a halt in the middle of a large paddock. She honked the horn a few times while Maria went fishing through the hay to find the pitchfork. Sherlock watched her as she finally pulled it free of the hay before looking up in time to see a herd of cows and couple of horses come running from the tree line at the edge of the paddock and crowded around the Ute. Maria grinned quickly at Sherlock before she began shovelling the hay off to the waiting animals.

"Don't just stand there, throw some off," She said, seeing Sherlock standing there like he was stunned. He blinked then grabbed an armful of hay and threw it off the opposite side to what she was. Once all the hay was gone, Sherlock sat down on the tray as Maria threw down the pitchfork. She dusted off her hands then turned to Sherlock and laughed.

"You've got hay in your hair," She said with a giggle as he ran his hands through his hair hurriedly trying to get rid of it. She sighed and banged on the roof of the cabin to signal Tracy they were done before she sat down next to him and proceeded to begin picking it out the hay. Tracy drove them back home again to the shed and immediately Maria jumped off and began to throw a bale of hay onto the back.

"We're not done yet?" Sherlock asked, grabbing the bale and pulling it further onto the tray as she threw up another.

"We still have a herd of hungry sheep to feed," She informed him throwing up a third bale before pulling herself back up. "Grab the cutters for me would you," She asked pointing at the toolbox strapped to the tray. He retrieved them and hand them to her as she cut the strings holding the bales together.

"Ready when you are Tracy!" Maria called banging the roof before she sat down next to Sherlock again. Tracy was quick to speed them out to yet another paddock where the sheep were grazing. However upon the sight of the Ute, they all sprinted over, baaing and making noise. Maria laughed and broke off a piece of the bale and threw it like a Frisbee out into the mass of sheep surrounding them. Sherlock followed her suit, until they had finished all the bales and the sheep were happily gutsing themselves.

Maria leaned down over the side and easily picked up one of the baby lambs that had ventured close to the Ute. The lamb didn't squirm or complain as Maria set it in her lap and patted it gently, cooing over how cute it was.

"You can pat him," She said to Sherlock, reaching over and grabbing his wrist pulling him closer so he could pat the lamb gently on the nose. "Isn't she adorable?" Maria gushed, scratching the lamp behind the ear before gently placing her back on the ground with her mother. Sherlock looked up at Maria.

"You missed this to the point where you blocked out thoughts of it," He said quietly. It wasn't hard to guess as she had always adored baby lambs, but never spoke about them. Maria sighed.

"I didn't want to think about my life before I moved to London because I missed all this. Waking up at ungodly hours just to feed the animals, riding the horses to the neighbours house, driving like a manic in the paddock. It was just easier to forget it all…" She said quietly before once again banging on the roof and grabbing hold.

"You know…there's nothing stopping you from enjoying all that once again, just for the weekend," Sherlock suggested with a small smile. Maria grinned back at him.

Maria made sure Sherlock got the full experience of what it was like to live on a farm, after lunch Martin suggested that they go riding to which Maria excitedly agreed. She insisted Sherlock come along, even if he didn't ride. So after lunch they all packed into the Ute, Sherlock insisting he ride shotgun this time, having learnt his lesson from the tree branches. Maria however was happy to ride in the back again. They arrived in the paddock where the horses were again and Maria was quick to pull down the side of the tray so they could easily get at the saddles.

Martin called the horses over and with Maria's help he saddled them up. Maria was first up onto her horse, galloping away from the men to circle around the paddock. Once she was out of hearing distance, Sherlock stopped Martin for a moment. He looked confused for a moment, but seemed to realise what this was about.

"Spit it out boy, Maria will get suspicious," He said crossing his arms.

"I want to do something nice for Maria, something no one else could do for her," Sherlock finally said looking at Martin, who grinned.

"As a matter of fact, I have the perfect solution for you," He said before waving the young man in closer and whispering to him. Sherlock moved away with a grin.

"Now get on that horse boy!"

Sherlock had always been quite adept at learning new things and horse riding seemed to be one of them. It didn't take him long to be riding almost as well as Maria was. However halfway through he said something about feeling ill and returned to the house, rejecting Maria when she'd tried to come along. It was a few hours before Maria finally pulled up beside her father and hopped off, handing him the reins to the horse.

"You're not going to unsaddle them?" Maria questioned when he kept hold of the reins of the two horses and started for the house.

"Na, Tracy and I will probably go for a ride ourselves soon," He said with a shrug. "You take the car back and I'll meet you there."

Maria took the car back first only to find Sherlock waiting for her on the porch. He was dressed once again in his usual neat suit-like attire, grinning like the Cheshire cat. Maria walked up to him.

"What's this all about?"

"I have a surprise for you." He said, not giving off any details that Maria could read. He'd showered though, probably to cover any tracks he'd had on him.

"A surprise huh?" Maria asked as Sherlock gave her a grin she knew he only ever wore around her.

"Wear something nice."


	22. Heart

Chapter 22; Heart

Sherlock insisted that she wear a blindfold, even though she was going to ride the horse there. He promised that he would guide her carefully, and not let her be attacked by low-hanging branches. So she allowed herself to be blindfolded and helped up onto her horse. She straightened out her dress and had to wiggle her feet around a bit to find the stirrups. Once she was set, Sherlock grinned and pulled himself up onto the other horse, taking hold of the reins of Maria's horse. He set them off in a walk.

Maria was only growing more curious the further they went. Sherlock was ignoring her questions, just taking to laughing and shushing her. She took to being silent, just listening to the sound of the horse's hooves crushing sticks and stamping down bark as they walked. It was a couple of minutes before they came to a stop, Sherlock getting off first and going over to Maria to help her down from the horse.

"I'm fine," Maria said trying to shake him off but he had a firm hold on her waist as he lifted her down easily, like a child. After tying the horses to a tree, he took her hand and led her a little ways before he stood behind her and removed her blindfold.

"Surprise!"

Maria gasped. Laid out in front of her was a beautifully set up picnic, complete with tartan rug and a basket sitting off to the side, the plates set out and waiting. He'd set it up under her favourite old tree, in the secluded spot that overlooked the entire farm on a small rolling hill. She couldn't help the smile that came to her face.

"How on earth did you…?" She began turning to Sherlock, who now stood beside her, wearing a huge grin.

"Your father told me how much you used to love picnics," Sherlock explained as he offered for her to sit down first. Maria seemed almost giddy with excitement as she sat down on one half of the blanket, Sherlock sitting down next to her, forced to cross his long legs so they fit on the blanket.

"I tried my best with the sandwiches," he said as he opened the basket and pulled out the stack of neatly cut sandwiches. "Tracy seemed impressed at my skill." He said as he put them down on the larger plate and unwrapped the gladwrap around them.

"Why are you doing this?" Maria asked quietly, tucking her legs up underneath herself and letting her dress fan out around her. They were close enough to the tree that Maria leaned back against it. Sherlock looked at her.

"The sandwiches are your favourite and I also made hot chocolate, I remember how much you loved that to," He said pulling out a flask and two cups. Maria reached over and grasped his wrist.

"That doesn't answer my question," She said and Sherlock looked away for a moment.

"I just…wanted to surprise you with something nice," He admitted quietly and Maria smiled.

"See that wasn't so hard was it?" She asked pinching his cheek teasingly before accepting a cup of hot chocolate. He always made it the way she liked it.

The sun was setting over them as they ate, drank and talked quietly, watching the sheep grazing in the paddock below them. Sherlock had also thought to bring along a portable player and put on some of Maria's music. Darkness fell around them as Maria's favourite song came on.

"Wait I know the name!" Sherlock said, stopping her before she could tell him. "Stand Up, Kick love into motion by Def Leppard?" He guessed and Maria clapped and nodded. He'd always kept little things about Maria stored in the back of his mind.

"First guess, good job," She praised before dusting off her dress and standing up. "Come on," She demanded, grabbing his hands and pulling him up to. He blinked, surprised.

"What?" He asked and she laughed.

"Dance with me," She said pulling him off the blanket and starting to spin. He blinked again but went along with her, following her lead.

_'I just happen to be a man, and you happen to be a woman, and we happen to be together, try to stop this thing comin'!'_

The lyrics stuck with Sherlock, more than they should have. Well they did say the lyrics to a woman's favourite song spoke about her heart. He smirked slightly as the chorus kicked in, and he took Maria by surprise as he pulled her into a waltzing pose, one hand at her waist, the other holding hers aloft. She laughed softly as they continued to spin in time to the music, Maria singing along softly.

_'Take me in your arms and throw me to the ground…'_

Sherlock grinned slightly before he dipped Maria suddenly and she let out a cry of surprise before she laughed and tipped her head back, letting her hair cascade down to the ground. He pulled her back up only to find her closer than before, their noses less than an inch apart. Maria laughed it off and rested her head against his shoulder as they continued to spin, Maria singing along.

Maria could fell every little movement he made, the way his hand seem to tighten slightly around her own; the way his arm was protectively around her; the fact she could hear his heartbeat pounding away in his chest. Way to fast to be normal. She didn't look up at him though; she was too busy enjoying the moment. The song finally seemed to start winding down and yet they were still spinning.

"I'm starting to get a bit dizzy…" She commented softly.

"Maybe we should stop spinning then, it's from all the spinning right?" Sherlock asked as she looked up at him.

"We have stopped spinning," Maria said as they locked eyes. There was something he was hiding behind those piercing blue eyes as he stared down at her. And she wanted to know…badly. It felt like it was the missing link she'd been searching for and she wanted to reach out and grab it, but wasn't sure how. That was when the next song started playing.

_'I wanna touch you! Till we're stuck like glue! I wanna touch you! Yeah!'_

Maria and Sherlock almost jumped apart at the lyrics, Maria's face burning up as she muttered about changing the song and hurrying over to sit by the player to push buttons and hope for the best. When she had found another song, she looked over at Sherlock to see the tips of his ears burning red like beacons. He was embarrassed too. He stood grand and tall against the night's sky.

"Miss You in a Heartbeat by Def Leppard, the electric version," He said, commenting on the song. "Every time I heard this song I thought of you…"

Maria blinked.  
"This song reminded you of me?" She asked quietly and he nodded.

"Look, Maria….there was another reason for me asking you out here this evening. I want you to stop seeing Hugh." He sounded firm.

"I thought you didn't mind him?" Maria asked standing up and walking over to him. He turned to look down at her.

"That's not the point," He said softly. He absently reached out and touched the fabric of her dress. She looked beautiful tonight, green was her colour and she wore it proudly. Maria watched his hand for a moment before taking it gently. His eyes flicked back to hers.

"Then tell me, you know you can," She said quietly. She just wanted to know. Sherlock tried to speak; twice the words got caught in his throat. Finally he groaned and using their joined hands pulled her in and kissed her. It only lasted a moment, just like before. He pulled back to watch for her reaction, which he didn't expect to be to throw her arms around his neck and pull him back into another kiss.

Sherlock wrapped his long arms around her and pulled her against him, easily lifting her up, her feet dangling just above the ground. They stood there like that for a few moments, savouring the kiss, before Sherlock put her back down on her feet and broke away, only to put their foreheads together. There words to be spoken by neither of them said any but simply stood there, letting the soft breeze blow around them, sending a small wave of leaves drifting over them. Finally Maria spoke.

"Let's watch the stars."

Silently, they packed up everything into the basket and moved the blanket further out from under the tree to be able to see the starry night sky. Without question they laid down on their backs beside each other, fingers interlocking gently. Even though it was more pronounced now in the silence, they'd always been together, it had always been a given and Maria realised this as she held his hand and stared up at the shimmering nights sky.

At some point Sherlock and Maria made their way back to the house, laughing at nothing and holding hands. Martin and Tracy were no-where in sight, probably to give the two time together should they come back early. They retreated into Marias room for the night.


	23. With Light comes Darkness and Shadows

Chapter 23; With Light comes Darkness and Shadows

Sherlock woke the next morning to find Maria cuddled into his chest. She looked like an angel laying there next to him, perfectly calm and composed. He would have happily stayed there, laying silent next to her, if his phone on the bedside table hadn't begun to ring. With a small sigh he rolled over and sat up in one fluid motion before the phone was in his hand at his ear.

"Holmes." He answered in his usual business voice.

"We've got a situation." It was Lestrade. "Remember that murder I tried to bring you in on but Maria kicked me out? Well there's been another, exactly the same."

"Explain."

"Well the bodies appear to be a few days old, by the smell, but nobody ever reported them to be missing," He explained. "Also they both had this weird symbol carved into their forearms, we're pretty sure it was done post-mortem. So will you come?"

Sherlock was silent for a moment. He glanced back over at Maria for a moment.

"I will, but it'll take me a few hours, try not to let Anderson ruin the body too much," He said before hanging up and putting the phone down. He sighed softly then almost jumped out of his skin feeling a hand on his back. He turned to see Maria watching him.

"How much of that did you hear?" He asked.

"All of it. So you're leaving for London?" She asked, sounding almost sad. She knew he would insist she stay here until tomorrow like they had planned to, as she had been enjoying herself so much. She closed her eyes and waited for him to say it, her mind daring him.

"Yes. Pack your things we need to leave within the hour if we want to make it home in time for lunch." He said standing up. Maria blinked her eyes open again.

"Wait, you want me to come with you?" She asked, like it was the biggest surprise ever. Sherlock smiled down at her. He swooped down and kissed her softly.

"I'd be lost without you Maria."

Maria smiled slightly dumbly before she shook her head and stood up. She pulled her bag out from under the bed as he half walked-half ran back to his own room, nearly taking out Martin in the process.

"Are you leaving already?" Martin asked, seeing his daughter packing her things. He sounded sad; he hadn't seen her in so long and had hoped today to spend time with her alone.

"I'm sorry dad, something's come up back in London and Sherlock can't leave without me," She said turning to look at her father. "I promise, I'll call sometime, or come down and visit alright?"

Martin knew he couldn't argue and wandered off leaving Maria to pack her things. Tracy was also surprised when they came downstairs and left their things by the door. Sherlock had to explain to her what was going on, particularly when she decided that it must have something to do with Maria and her father. Before they could leave however, Martin called Sherlock out into the yard to talk with him privately.

"Why can't you stay, just until tomorrow?" Martin asked, once they were out of earshot from the women.

"You know why Martin," Sherlock said, taking on a stern tone with the older man.

"I've barely seen her and you're already planning to take her away again," Martin said, jabbing a finger at Sherlock.

"Believe me Martin; I have no intention of stealing her completely from you. It's just that I've been called into work and I can't work without her; she's the heart of me, she always has been."

"So you do love her then." Martin said with a small knowing smile that made Sherlock stop.

"So you realised?"

"Son, I knew the moment you walked into her life she was never going to be the same again and it's true you changed her, you helped her. I watched you fall for her, even when you didn't realise." Martin said his gaze meeting Sherlock's. "I fell for her mother the very same way, she just came from no-where one day and I was lost. And let me tell you one thing, you will never forget her; it's a thing in her mother's side of the family, all the women are just too interesting to walk away from. Whether it be for their inability to keep themselves from falling on their face, or their reckless behaviour, or their undying love, they keep you caring, even long after their gone."

Sherlock looked at Martin quietly. He couldn't deny it. Maria had walked back into his life after years of absence, but she was still the same as always, she completed his circle. She was the heart that people believed he didn't have. He turned in time to see Maria dressed in her normal London attire walking down the stairs beside Tracy. Even when she had left for the war, he had still cared, still dreaded the thought of the news his heart could never bear; the news of her passing. But here she was; alive and well and _with him_, just like before.

He smiled and walked over opening the door for her to throw her things in the back before turning around to say her goodbyes. Martin shook Sherlock's hand firmly before they hopped in the car and turned down the front drive to start their journey back to London.

"Did you enjoy this trip?" Sherlock asked, glancing over at Maria as they drove. She smiled warmly at him.

"Very much."

Lestrade was waiting for them when they arrived back at the apartment. He had all the information for Sherlock to churn through while Maria unpacked her things and got sorted. Lestrade promised to be in touch if there were any developments on his end and Sherlock saw him out. This left Sherlock out in the living room, reading through the file while Maria made lunch.

"Read through this while you eat, I'm going down to the morgue to take a quick look at the body and then you can join me down there alright?" Sherlock said throwing the file down on the table next to Maria's hastily cooked bowl of noodles before pulling on his trademark jacket and scarf. Maria didn't get time to agree – or disagree – before Sherlock was running off, his mind on the case now. Maria sighed and downed her lunch whilst flicking through the folio.

Once she was sure she had somewhat of a knowledge she packed up and headed to the morgue to meet Sherlock who was in the lab with Shelly running tests. She flicked open the file and pulled out a photo of the most recent guys forearms.

"Those markings, done with a scalpel," She said putting the picture down between Holmes and his work. He glanced down at it.

"Medical knowledge then…"

"Or access to medical equipment," Maria corrected before looking up at Shelly. "Do you mind rolling the body out for me?"

"Already out and waiting for you," Sherlock answered before Shelly could.

"Lovely." Maria said snapping the portfolio shut and leaving it beside Sherlock so he could rustle through it again and double check some things while Maria walked off to find the body. Shelly followed after her like a hovering shadow.

"If you trying to find out some tips on how to seduce Holmes I'd recommend backing off right now," Maria said as she unzipped the body bag and proceeded to examining it.

"Who says I'm doing anything of the sort?" Shelly asked and Maria turned to her with a small sigh.

"Because you seem insistent on hating me, the woman, the woman who's closer than you to Holmes," She said before shooing the woman from the room so she could examine.

_'Cuts to the forearm, done with a scalpel, meaning and origin unknown. Bruise pattern across the neck, signs of struggle, knocked unconscious maybe then murdered? No then the signs of decay wouldn't be there. Clear stab wound to the heart, could be the cause of death. Smells like it's a couple of days old but rigor mortis hasn't even completed its full cycle….something's wrong…'_

"That man has not been dead for more than twelve hours!" Maria cried as she stormed back into the lab. "Those yard idiots have got it wrong, it's not a stabbing there's not enough blood on the wound."

The computer in front of Sherlock beeped and he grinned.

"You're exactly right, it's a poison and then the bodies are surrounded by garbage to give it that dead smell, would throw anyone off who wasn't trained." Sherlock said getting up and throwing the file to Maria again.

"So why were they murdered?"

"That's why we have to wait; our killer has to make his next move."

"I'll look up this symbol then, there has to be something…" Maria said as she headed for the door. Sherlock stopped her however. He glanced around for Shelly before leaning in and giving her a peck on the lips.

"Good luck with that," He murmured before moving away again to his desk. She smirked slightly to herself before she made her way to the computer lab.


	24. Just the Side-Kick

Chapter 24; Just the Side-Kick

Maria ended up spending hours sitting in front of the computer, combing file after file and trying to find the strange symbol. Sherlock had come into visit her and try to help her, but she'd sent him off saying she could do this and he should focus on thinking about why this was happening. He was better at that. She was about ready to give up when her phone rang. She had to go searching through the files scattered over her desk to find it, answering it just in time.

"Maria." She said, assuming it to be Sherlock. However the voice on the other end turned out to be Lestrade.

"Any luck? Sherlock's not picking up." He asked and Maria sighed and rubbed her face. The room around her was dark aside from the computer screen in front of her.

"I'm stuck on trying to find what this stupid symbol means, I know I've seen it somewhere before."

"I got my guys onto it; apparently it's the symbol for Jupiter, I don't see how a planet could have anything to do with this case though." Lestrade sounded tired.

"Maybe it's got nothing to do with the planet…" Maria said, more to herself before she put the phone on loudspeaker and put it down beside her. "The Romans had a god named Jupiter, he was the king of the gods and apparently also the one to establish sacrifices into Roman religion."

"So you think this killer is sacrificing people?"

"No, the Roman's only ever sacrificed animals to Jupiter. The victims were strangled until they stopped responding then poisoned, and then stabbed in the heart; to make it seem like that was the cause of death, much more sacrificial looking. Along with the symbol on the forearm, he wants us to believe this is sacrifice. I don't think there is anything important about that symbol other than trying to waste our time looking for it." Maria said with a sigh, leaving Lestrade silent.

"Alright how to we catch him?"

"That's a better question to ask Sherlock, I'm only his side-kick remember," Maria said rubbing her face. "Also, you sound tired you should get some sleep. Doctors orders." She added in the direction of the phone.

"Alright, I'll call you if anything comes up," Lestrade promised before hanging up. Maria sighed once again, rubbing her eyes before chancing a glance down at her phone. She paused and blinked a couple of times. Quickly she pulled out the photos of the two previous victims and laid them beside her phone, the background of which was a picture of Sherlock and herself.

'Victims are both male, thirties, dark hair…quite handsome…oh no…'

Maria's hand shot out to grab the phone, redialling Lestrade while she hurriedly stashed the papers back into the folder.

"Lestrade, meet me at Bakers street pronto!" She cried into the phone as she snatched up her bag and coat and sprinted from the computer lab. She didn't explain and hung up before he could ask, making her way out onto the street to catch a cab. She beat Lestrade to Bakers street by about a minute and he arrived with a few yard dogs as she was fumbling to open the door.

"What's going on?" Lestrade asked as Maria barged into the apartment. She froze at the sight, Lestrade stopping behind her with a curse. The apartment looked like it had been turned upside down; the couch was overturned, the chairs in disarray blocking the way into the kitchen like a barricade.

"Sherlock?" Maria asked, taking a slow step forwards. When there was no answer, Maria's mind went into work mode. She wandered forwards slightly, taking in some details before turning to Lestrade.

"They came in through the fire escape near Sherlock's window in his room; Sherlock was in here at the time and thought it was me. There are boot prints on the tiles in the kitchen, I cleaned that floor just recently and neither Sherlock nor I wear shoes in this house, I make him take them off at the door and walk around in socks. Also you don't have to come through the living room to get into the rest of the apartment, so he assumed it was me coming down. He came to greet me but was attacked where the barricade is…" Maria moved over and hauled one of the chairs out of the way to reveal a small pool of blood. "…Which was placed it hide the blood. It's Sherlock's, the attacker came at him with a knife, slashed his forearm, sending the blood spray over the door here," She said pulling the door open to examine the spray.

"Left hander, probably around 5"6, judging by the height of the blood spray. Sherlock's tall and if his attacker was short he wouldn't have had to have raised his arm so high to try and block the attack, so the guys tall and very strong. He threw Sherlock across the room and knocked over the chairs, you can see the scuff marks on the wood from where they clattered along the floor and from where the attacker dragged them into place over the blood. So now Sherlock's over in the corner of the room, knocked a few books of the shelves with his bad arm, you can see the blood on the open pages. That's when the attack will have pinned him down and injected him with the anesthesia."

"Anesthesia?"

"Yes they drugged him so he couldn't fight, but they needed him alive for some reason." Maria said searching through the pile of books now on the floor before she pulled out an empty needle. She showed it to Lestrade.

"Sherlock's been kidnapped and if we don't hurry the next dead body we'll find will be his…" Maria said solemnly before throwing the needle aside looking disgusted. She didn't realise she'd left half of the yard in shock. They had only ever seen Sherlock doing what she had just done so easily. Lestrade took a moment to blink before he started barking orders at Donovan, who was standing right beside him. Anderson walked over to Maria.

"You're just like him," He said looking down at her with a small sneer. "Guess he taught you a few tric-"

Anderson was cut off by the fact Maria pulled back her fist and punched him hard in the face, knocking him over.

"I'm not just some woman you can speak down to Anderson. I'm a soldier and my bite is worse than my bark." She warned before pulling the other chair out of her way and going down to Sherlock's room.

His coat was still hanging on the back of his door, she thought for a moment before grabbing it and pulling it on. Thanks to her heels the bottom only just reached the ground; the sleeves however were too long but she would deal. She ducked over to the window and pulled it open, realising his phone was still in the pocket of the jacket when it banged against the window sill. She pulled it out and looked it for a moment before going back into the living room to find Lestrade and the yard trying to clean the place up.

She caught some funny looks from the yard, seeing her in Sherlock's jacket with his phone. Lestrade was giving her the strangest look, but she wasn't deterred. She also couldn't care less about Anderson when he began to kick up a fuss about her.

"Sherlock's phone is locked; it's never locked because he never leaves it behind, never, so why now, why leave his phone behind?" She asked showing the phone to Lestrade.

"So, how do we figure out the password?" He asked and Maria frowned.

"It's Sherlock; it could be any number of things…" She said beginning to pace. Finally she stopped and stood still, her mind racing, the phone in front of her as she stared at it.

_'He'd had it in his hand when he was thrown into the corner, he locked it and then hid it in the pocket of his shirt as he was carried out through the window in his room. There's something on here he wants us to know…he would have had to have thought of a password in a hurry, something I could easily figure out, something ONLY I could figure out, in those few desperate moments what would he….of course…'_

Maria looked back down at the phone.

'M – A – R – I – A'

The phone beeped open onto an unsent text to her with a note and an address.

"This is where he is," She said flashing the phone in front of Lestrade face, giving him just enough time to memorise it.

"How on earth?"

"They took Holmes because A; he fits the pattern and B; he somehow managed to define the location from the dirt under guy number two's fingernails." She said before locking the phone again and putting it in the coat pocket. "It's abandoned all around that area; I'll go in alone first and find Sherlock I'll text you when I'm ready for you to move in and surround the area." Lestrade found himself stunned by the woman. She truly was Sherlock Holmes friend and the way she commanded him screamed military at him.

"Alright guys pack it in and let's go," Lestrade called and the yard walked out, leaving Maria and Lestrade.

"You're more than a side-kick you know, no mere side-kick could ever be as clever as you are." Lestrade said quietly to her before he too left.


	25. The Woman

Chapter 25; The Woman

Maria's plan maybe wasn't the best plan, but it was all she had to go about saving Sherlock. First of all, there was sneaking in then locating Sherlock and getting him out of there before calling in Lestrade. She buttoned up Sherlock's coat around her so it couldn't slip off, before flicking up the collar. She stood on top of the roof of the next building, looking at the gap across to the place she needed to get into.

_'Okay so what do we know? Victims were killed then placed in the alleyways where they were found. Victim twos fingernails had dirt under them from around this area. Sherlock must have narrowed it down to this building…'_

Maria took a few steps back before running forwards and launching herself over the gap. She landed less than gracefully, managing to pull herself into a roll to avoid breaking her ankles. She stood up again and glanced around before making her way over to the door that lead inside to the building. She was silent as she made her way down the stairs to the floor below, checking around for any signs of life. When she found none she made her way down another level.

Up ahead she could hear voices. She edged her way up slowly, stopping by the door. There was the sound of a fist hitting flesh and Sherlock groaning. She stood there for a few moments and figured she needed to give the man a reason to leave the room.

_ 'Think like Holmes.'_

Taking in her surroundings she grabbed a piece of debris and threw it with a quite the force down the hallway, making a clatter when it landed. She ducked back around the corner to hide as she heard the thundering footsteps of someone running out of the room. She didn't waste the opportunity and hurried into the room, shutting and bolting the door.

"Sherlock!" She said in a hushed tone seeing the state he was in. She moved over to him as he looked up at her. He was in a terrible state. The drugs only just seemed to have begun to wear off and he looked half out of it. Signs of being struck repeatedly with brass knuckles were written across his face with the hint of a broken nose. It brought anger up from deep inside Maria.

"Maria?" He asked, clearly trying his hardest to focus in on her face. "You…you can't be here..." He wheezed.

"What?"

The door behind them was brutally knocked off its hinges, landing on the floor with a crash. Maria whirled around to face him, scooping up a piece of broken floor board as she went, using the force of her movement to aid her swing and striking him hard in the shoulder. He stumbled, rolled his shoulder and grinned at her before attacking with a wild swing that she had to hit the floor to avoid. She rolled as he punched the ground where she'd been moments before.

For a wild moment Maria wondered, in the part of her mind she tried to avoid thinking with, if this was what it was like to fight the Hulk as she dodged, narrowly, another blow that would have sent her across the room. Maria wasted no time in whipping out her gun from behind her and pointing it at the man.

"Hit the ground pal," She said.

Maria turned away to look at Sherlock for a moment, the man taking that time to jump up and charge at her. He ended up taking about three steps before Maria unloaded the entire clip into him. He collapsed at her feet leaving Maria panting softly. She ran over to Sherlock and began untying him.

"You have to leave, now before it's too late…" He begged, grabbing her arm as she moved around in front of him.

"What is going on Sherlock?"

"There's a b-"

BOOM! The wall behind Maria exploded, sending them both flying into the back wall. The whole building shook, causing the roof above them to collapse over them. Lestrade knew then that something had gone horribly wrong. He began yelling orders for them to get in there now. However he didn't notice the figure standing just outside the light, watching the flames begin to take hold of the building. Causally, he threw the detonator aside and fished out a piece of gum from his pocket. He smirked and threw it in his mouth before turning and walking away.

Meanwhile inside, Sherlock had dug himself out of the rubble covering him. Flames were starting to build up around them and he couldn't see Maria anywhere.

"Maria?" He asked desperately, his eyes scanning the room. "Maria!"

Finally out of the corner of his eye he spotted a hand producing from a pile of rubble that was buried under part of the roofing. He stumbled over the broken floor to her, managing to reach through a gap to remove the rubble from her around her head. She'd been struck hard by a piece of the stone wall, the blood staining the side of her face.

"Don't give up on me Maria…" He said before moving back and trying to see if he could remove the beams that were in the way. While he could, it risked sending the rest of the rooftop collapsing onto them, the last thing he needed.

_'Think, think!'_

He looked around. He probably had a few minutes before the fire swept across their room completely and he had to get Maria out of here before then. He had to prevent the roof from falling on Maria before he could even think about pulling her out, not to mention the beams in the way of reaching her. He paused for a moment, looking at her, thinking. He tried to move one of the beams ever so slightly, causing a hailstorm of debris to rain down on Maria. If he was quick enough he just might be able to…

With the quickest motion he could, he pulled the beam sideways out of the way, creating a big enough gap for him to get through and also forcing it in to block most of the debris before falling on Maria. Once that was done her was down on his knees digging her unconscious form from the rubble. He held her close as he turned to the flames now blocking the door. Thankfully there were holes in the wall next to it opened up by the blast and he managed to squeeze through turning down the corridor and heading for the staircase.

He took the steps two at a time, making his way down to the bottom of the building. The first door he found he proceeded to kick down, only to find several of the Yard including Lestrade, waiting for them. After a small argument between the two men, Sherlock allowed Maria to be taken by Lestrade over to the waiting ambulance while paramedics attended to Sherlock. The moment he was free however he made his way straight over to the ambulance.

Maria had been laid out on the bed; her head had been bandaged up. She looked pasty though and she'd lost a bit of blood and she still hadn't woken up. He just hoped she did soon so he could take her home.

"Sherlock." Lestrade's voice broke through his thoughts as the older man wandered over. "What happened?"

"It was a set-up all along but I was too stupid to realise. Your killer is in that burning room with a clip of bullets in him but he was only a pawn in this game. Whoever this is, they wanted Maria not me, they were hoping I'd be the one to get stuck up on research and that Maria would return first. However when I planted my phone I wasn't aware of this and so I played right into their hands and almost got her killed." He said in a low quite voice, looking at Lestrade. For a moment the Lestrade thought he saw desperation in those blue eyes before it was gone, covered away again as the sound of Maria coughing reached them. Lestrade stopped Sherlock from running straight over to her by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Give her a moment," Lestrade said, seeing Sherlock's glare. Still the young genius waited until the paramedics had sorted her out and laid her back down. Lestrade released Sherlock's shoulder letting the man hop up into the ambulance before waving the paramedics out for the moment, to leave the two alone. Maria looked up at Sherlock, confusion in her eyes as he sat down on the bed next to her.

"What happened?" She asked, reaching out a hand to him, which he took gently, as if it were made of glass.

"There was a bomb planted in the room next to us." Sherlock said simply, letting her figure out the rest. Her fingers tightened around his hand slightly.

"So they were trying to kill us? What are we dealing with Sherlock?"

"I believe they go by the name Moriarty. However they've yet to try and contact me personally." He said quietly. He looked down at her, the sadness reaching his eyes. He'd never meant for her to be hurt. After a pause of silence, Maria spoke,

"I wanna go home."

Sherlock nodded and helped her to sit up, much to the complain of the paramedics.

"She wants to go home. She's a doctor, she can take care of herself," Sherlock said, as he hopped down from the truck to pull Maria down gently onto her feet.

"I thought I was fragile?" Maria asked as he began to lead her away.

"I realised I was wrong."

Lestrade stopped them before they could leave however.

"The station, tomorrow, both of you." Lestrade said pointing at them as Anderson came up beside him.

"Of course Lestrade," Maria said, her eyes fixed on Anderson.

"That woman better have an apology for me as well."

"Oh, I wondered about that bruise. Maria's got a lovely right hook hasn't she Anderson? Shame you didn't test her temper further, I've seen her just go short of maiming someone over their stupidity. Wish I'd been there though…" Sherlock said, the thought of Maria punching Anderson bringing a smile curl to his lips.

"Also by the way Anderson, she's not "that woman"," Sherlock said before taking Maria's hand. "She's THE Woman." Sherlock turned and without another word, walked away, pulling Maria alongside him.


	26. The Hunt is On

Chapter 26; The Hunt is On

After a disastrous morning of explaining last night's events to Lestrade, Maria was happy to get home and collapse back into her bed. She hadn't slept well again last night, dreams of the war returning to her once again. She was just thankful she hadn't woken up in a screaming mess, and she hoped Sherlock pinned her weariness to blood loss and her head wound. The last thing she needed was him worrying about her and her nightmares.

But something was up with Sherlock. He was acting much more distant than usual and it bothered her. What was he not telling her about last night's incident? There was a crucial puzzle piece she was missing and it was bugging her to no end as she lay there on her bed. Finally she decided she needed some music and put on her favourite playlist, before collapsing face down on her bed again.

Out in the living room she could hear Sherlock complaining to himself about the state last night's fight had left the state of all his paperwork and how he now was rearranging it all. She would have gone to help him but she was too tired to be bothered to move again. Without much thought she fell asleep where she lay. Her dreams drifted to last night.

She could remember shooting that man, the pain of the explosion blowing her across the room and the stone striking her still bandaged forehead. It was all too real and one thing led to another and she woke up screaming, and ended up on the floor, her pillow next to her. Sherlock came running to find her on the floor, clutching her pillow tightly. He pried her off it, only to have her cling to him. With a small sigh, he picked her up and put her back on the bed.

"You need to relax." He said firmly, pushing the hair back off her face as he sat down next to her.

"What aren't you telling me?" She asked suddenly, turning her gaze up to him. "That's why you're distant isn't it? And you refuse to tell me what it is…"

Sherlock looked at her, his eyes darkening for a moment before he kissed her. Not like he'd kissed her before on the farm, this was much more desperate. He pulled away to look at her.

"Maria…they want you dead."

Nothing could describe the ice that froze through Maria's veins at those words. Flicking her eyes up to meet his gaze, she found it as cold as she felt.

"Now why would they want that?"

"Because, somehow, they seemed to have realised what you mean to me."

"But how, I mean do they have spies out that far in the country…unless you…no…" Sherlock turned away from her, suddenly seeming a little bit embarrassed. "You didn't…"

"I wasn't thinking…" He said quietly as she frowned. "That night I slept on the couch right?"

"Yes."

"So it wasn't a dream then…and you think they saw?"

"Must have. Once you eliminate the impossible…"

"Whatever's left, not matter how improbable, must be the truth." Maria finished for him, moving to sit on the edge of the bed next to him.

"I will find them, and I will stop them before they can hurt you again, I promise." He said quietly, turning his head to look at her. Maria turned to look at him as well.

"I know you will, you're Sherlock Holmes."

Sherlock ended up spending the rest of the day sorting out his files, Maria finally giving up on sleep halfway through and helping him. They managed to put the apartment back into its normal functioning order and celebrated by making dinner together. Afterwards, Maria sat at the table in the living room with her laptop while Sherlock flicked aimlessly through the channels. She had a lot to catch up on with writing her blog, having avoided it for a while. Sherlock glanced back at Maria for a moment before returning his gaze to the telly.

That was when his phone began to ring from where it sat on the table in front of Maria. She looked up at it, turning to Sherlock as he got up and answered the phone. Lestrade answered on the other end. After hanging up, Sherlock looked down at Maria.

"Something's happened down at the yard, we better make an appearance."

It didn't take long to arrive at Scotland Yard. For once their arrival was not greeted by a crowd of officers and they had a clear path all the way to Lestrade's office, much to Maria's surprise. Sherlock entered like usual, to find Lestrade standing at his desk in the middle in of the room. On the table in front of him was a letter addressed to Sherlock.

"It just arrived just before, I've already had my guys scan it, it's not a bomb," Lestrade informed Sherlock as he walked over and picked up the letter, taking it over to the lamp to inspect it.

"She has quite nice handwriting," He commented.

"She?" questioned as Sherlock flicked out a Swiss army knife and proceeded to open the letter.

"Yes the woman who sent this and wrote my name on it." He said pulling out the contents. He paused for a moment before turning to show them the iPhone in his hand.

"I believe they are trying to communicate…" He said as the phone beeped. He unlocked it and looked curiously at the photo that popped up on the screen before turning to show Maria.

"It's an….orphanage?" Maria questioned, taking the phone from Sherlock and zooming in on the name.

"But why?" Lestrade questioned, looking at the photo over Maria's shoulder.

"Maybe he wants us to go there?" Maria suggested as Sherlock took the phone back off her and scribbled down the name of the orphanage.

"Right, Maria you will stay here and work with Lestrade on his end, examining the phone again, they'll need a brain to get any real information."

"Oh no, you are not cutting me out of the program like that. Besides, I know what you're like with children; you'll frighten the poor things. I'll go to the orphanage and you will stay here with Lestrade." She said poking him hard in the chest. Lestrade and Donovan were left speechless. No-one stood up to Sherlock like that and downright stomped over his words.

"Maria, what if this is a trap?"

"Everything I go into alone is a trap to you."

"I'm trying to protect you."

"And I'm trying to tell you that I appreciate the concern but dealing with children is not your forte!" She snapped before sighing. Sherlock frowned and stood up, not realising he'd leaned over towards her in the process of their argument. He sighed and held out the piece of paper with the name of the orphanage. Maria took it and looked at Sherlock.

"Right. I'll be off. I'll call you if I find anything." She promised before walking from the room. There was a moment of stunned silence before Lestrade spoke.

"Not to see out of place or anything but that seemed a bit like a lover's quarrel rather than friends fighting," Lestrade commented before Sherlock turned on him.

"She's not my lover."

"But you do care about her. You care enough to try and completely remove her from any danger, even though she's lived through a horrifying ordeal already and knows every risk."

"That's why I want to remove her from it. Being with me puts her back on the battle field, a place I wish she'd never gone in the first place." Sherlock said honestly, looking at the man with an expression that Lestrade had never seen before. It was a look of pure desperation, Sherlock's desperation to keep the one thing he loved safe.


	27. The Orphanage

Hey Guys, Steps here, just updating this chapter to mention that I've put up a poll on my profile. I wanna hear how you guys think I should end off this story. Don't worry though, there's still plenty to come, I just want to start getting an idea of how to finish this story.

Cheers.

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Chapter 27; The Orphanage

After searching up where the orphanage was, Maria arrived and headed straight to the head office. She wasn't sure what to expect as she walked though the empty halls. She began to wonder where all the children were. This place was quite large but on her journey to the office, she didn't see a soul in sight. She paused outside the office door before pushing it open and walking in. The woman behind the desk looked up when she entered and blinked.

"May I help you?" She asked, standing up as Maria strolled into the room.

"Hello, my name is Dr Maria Maron; I'm here on an investigation." She said, holding out her hand to the woman.

"I'm Erica…" She said uncertainly, taking Maria's hand and shaking it slowly. "What investigation?"

"You don't need to know the details." Maria said. "Anyway, I couldn't help but notice that this place is quite large, yet, I didn't see a single person, other than the lady at the front desk, where are all the children?"

Erica sighed softly.

"Well you see the orphanage is shutting down soon and most of the children have already been moved off to other orphanages." She explained and Maria nodded in understanding.

"How many are left?"

"15. All between the ages of 3-14"

"Gather them please." Maria asked and Erica blinked.

"Whatever for?"

"Just gather them."

It took another twenty minutes for all the children to arrive and seat themselves in the cafeteria. While they all filed in, she scanned all the young faces and waited for the last child to wander in before she began.

"My name is Dr Maria Maron. Now I'm here on a police investigation so for you older ones if you've noticed anything strange or unusual lately, please, come and talk to me as I wander around. Thank-you." She dismissed them and watched them all walk away, apart from one little girl who came up to Maria. The girl couldn't have been older than 5 and she looked up at Maria with large green eyes, her blonde curls in two pony tails on their side of her head.

"Are you here for the monsters under my bed?" She asked sincerely and Maria smiled and knelt down, thanking god she'd come instead of Holmes, knowing immediately what his reaction to that kind of question would have been.

"Yes I am. Why don't you take me to your room and we'll deal with those nasty monsters yeah?" She said and offered the younger girl her hand, which she took and clutched onto as she led Maria towards the door. It was then she noticed the boy sitting at the very back of the room, leaning back on his chair looking firmly at Maria. His brown eyes were dark as he watched her all the way to the door. Maria looked back at him as they left before focusing on their way forward.

The young girl, whose name turned out to be Anna, led Maria to the third floor and into her room.

"That's my bed there." The little girl said pointing. Maria nodded and walked over to the bed, getting down on her hands and feet to look under the bed. She reached around for a moment and discovered a loose floorboard. It probably creaked in the night and scared Anna. Maria pounded her fist against it, knocking the floorboard back into place.

"There we go. The monsters been locked away for good." Maria said getting up and sitting on the bed and smiling kindly at the young girl who beamed back. "Now who was that boy in the cafeteria?"

"That was Billy. He's always like that." Anna said plainly, sitting on the bed next to Maria.

"I think I'd like to talk to him. Do you know where his room is?" Maria asked and the little girl nodded before jumping off the bed and running for the door. Maria followed after her a little more slowly, her leg deciding to give her trouble. Anna happily chatted away as she led Maria to the next floor and to Billy's room where she stopped.

"Billy!" Anna called pounding with both hands on the door. "The lady wants to talk to you."

"Go away!" He shouted along with the sound of something being thrown at the door. Anna flinched back.

"I'll handle this," Maria said and Anna nodded before wishing her good luck and skipping off. Maria sighed and straightened herself before turning the knob and opening the door. She'd already prepared herself for more things to be thrown at her and her timing was perfect to block the pillow that came flying at her as she entered. She blocked it, the pillow bouncing off her raised arm to land at her feet.

"Good aim," Maria commented as she pulled the door shut behind her.

"Leave me alone." The young boy said, glaring at her. "I know you're here for me, Erica thinks I'm crazy, but I'm not!" He yelled at her as she walked over and sat on the bed opposite him.

"You wanna be a pilot huh?" Maria asked, noting the various posters on the walls beside his bed.

"What do you care?"

"Billy I'm not a police officer," Maria said leaning forwards. "Nor am I the kind of doctor you're thinking of. I'm an army doctor."

"Really?" He said, sounding interested, his eyes lighting up. "My dad was in the army."

"Yeah?" Maria asked with a small smile. "I've just recently returned from Afghanistan."

"That is so cool!" Billy exclaimed without realising then he blinked and realised what she was doing. Maria smiled again.

"You clearly a smart boy Billy, why don't you tell me why Erica thinks you're crazy?"

Billy looked at her, his expression darkening.

"My friend Alex was taken. The last night I woke to find a strange man carrying Alex out the door. So I followed them. He took Alex down to the basement where I couldn't follow. So I came back up to find Erica and told her what I'd seen and she said it had been a dream and brought me back to my room. Alex wasn't there and so I asked Erica where he was and she said he'd already been taken away to another orphanage. But I know Alex, if he was being taken in the middle of the night he would have woken me to say good bye. So Erica thinks I'm crazy and that I invented this man taking my friend away, but I know what I saw! Alex is probably still down in the basement right now but Erica hasn't let me anywhere near the place since."

Maria listened quietly, finding herself in a Sherlock position, with her hands rested on her fingertips as if in prayer. She absorbed what she could, her mind churning through the data before she raised her head and looked at Billy.

"Show me to the basement." Maria requested, standing up and looking down at Billy.

"I can't go down there, Erica said so."

"Some rules are made to be broken," Maria said before heading for the door. Billy looked at her before he jumped off the bed and followed after her.


	28. Dirty Secrets

Hey Guys, just in case you didn't get the edit I put on the last chapter, I've put up a poll on my profile and I wanna hear what you guys think, and how I should end off this story.

Cheers.

* * *

Chapter 28; Dirty Secrets

Billy led her down to the basement without so much of a hitch, Erica being no-where in sight. She also learned a little bit more about the boy, how his mother had died when he was young, and his father had died a year ago, leaving him here. She also discovered he was 14, and at an age where he had no hope of being adopted, or at least that's what Erica had said.

"This is where they went through." His voice broke through her thoughts as she looked at the basement door. She tried the knob but it was locked, of course. The door was steel and she wasn't going to try and kick it down, not with her leg. Her next choice was clear. She kneeled down and pulled out a small kit. Billy looked on curiously as she began to pick the lock. After a few moments the lock clicked and Maria opened the door a fraction. She stuffed away her kit and stood back up looking over at Billy. He gave her a look to which she shrugged and smirked.

"You pick up a few things." Was the only explanation she offered before pushing open the door and stepping through. What she didn't anticipate that Billy would follow her through the door onto the staircase.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"He's my friend." The boy said simply before flicking on the lights and starting down the staircase. Maria groaned softly and hurried after him. That boy was going to hurt himself. She caught up to him just as they reached the bottom of the stairs. The light overhead flickered as Maria reached behind her to pull the gun out from the back of her jeans.

"Stay low and stay quiet." She said in a hushed whisper. "Someone's been here recently." She lowered herself slightly before beginning her way along the wall of the dark corridor that stretched out in front of them. Billy followed behind her silently, though she could tell he was questioning the gun. They made their way to the end of the corridor to a door with a small bared window. Maria stood up beside it and glanced in. She whipped her head back at the sight she saw.

Billy looked at her in confusion as she pulled out her phone and dialled a number.

"Holmes…it's a smuggling operation. They claim their moving the kids to other orphanages when really their selling them off for slaves. I can see some of them now." She said in an undertone into the phone. There was a pause before he spoke.

"Maria…" He warned, seeming to know exactly what was going through the woman's mind. "Don't try anything until I get there."

"But Sherlock I can take these guys." She said itching to get in there and beat some guys up. If there was one thing Maria hated more than people who abused animals, it was people who abused innocent kids.

"I'm warning you…"

"Sorry gotta go!" She said hurriedly shutting the phone. She looked down at Billy.

"Was that your partner?" He asked quietly and she nodded. She glanced again through the window, taking in the cages at the centre of the room along with the few guards around it. She could take a couple of guys easy. She turned the knob and opened the door without a sound, Billy slipped through first hiding behind the boxes stacked right near the door, Maria following after him. They had the element of surprise as they moved around the large room, the darkness at the edges hiding their existence until they got in a little closer.

Maria pulled Billy to a halt when they were close enough to attack, however she was stopped by the fact the men had pulled one of the children from the cage and tied him to a chair. A small fire was crackling beside the chair. One of the men walked up to the boy as Billy whispered into Maria's ear.

"That's Alex."

Maria watched as the man inspected the orphan before pulling out a long rod from within the fire. Her mind clicked into place as she grabbed Billy's head and pulled it into her shoulder, covering his eyes.

"Don't watch!"

The scream of agony that followed was the most terrifying thing she had heard in a long time. She felt Billy flinch and clutch onto her shirt as Alex cried out for God and his mother. Billy was shaking and she knew he would be a danger to himself if she let him help any further. She pulled the boys head into her hands

"Billy…Billy listen to me…You gotta stay here for a moment…you will only leave this spot when I tell you alright?" She whispered, her voice hidden by the pained whimpers of Alex. Billy finally seemed to gain some control and nodded at her, tears dripping down his face. She let him go and pulled out her gun again before leaping out from their hiding spot.

BANG!

The first man she shot in the knee, crippling him. The other men swore loudly, shouting as she shot at the next man, hitting him in the shoulder. The third man ran at her, ducking and weaving as to not give her a clear shot. She was forced to dodge as he lashed out at her, grabbing hold of the ends of her coat, pulling her in to punch her hard across the face. She hit the ground, her gun sliding away from her. The man picked her up again by the throat, choking her.

"Billy!" She cried out in a desperate attempt. Billy sprinted out of hiding, running straight for the hot branding iron and grabbing hold of it. He turned to find Maria on the ground choking, the man advancing on him. He swung wildly at the man, trying to distract him as best he could. The man finally was close enough to take the branding iron from the boy before punching him hard. He didn't get a chance to strike again, as blood began dripping out of his chest from the bullet Maria had just put in him.

She was panting and her first instinct made her run right over to Billy. He groaned softly and she sighed before pulled him to sit up before beginning to check his slightly burnt hands.

"Stop it Mum," He muttered pulling his hands away before he realised what he'd said. "I-I mean Maria…"

Maria looked up at him for a moment.

"It's okay, really," She said before standing and going over to the unconscious Alex and untying him.

"All the other children must already be gone, but I can at least get some help for Alex," She said, looking down at Billy, who stood up and nodded. Just then the door burst open and in ran Sherlock. He saw the state of the place and made his way down to Maria. Maria opened her mouth to explain but Sherlock simply engulfed her in an unexpected hug.

"I swear you will be the death of me woman." He said before pulling back to inspect her bruised cheek. "There's an ambulance outside, you can clean yourself up there," He said before stepping away and finally noticing Billy standing there with his big brown eyes and tussled brown hair.

"Who's this?" Sherlock asked as Billy glared.

"My name is Billy."

"You brought a child down here to help you?"

"I didn't really have a choice."

She walked over to Alex and picked him up easily like a small child with one arm.

"Let's get you boys cleaned up," She said wrapping her free arm around Billy's shoulders and walking towards the door with him. Sherlock hurried after them.

Ten minutes later Sherlock and Maria were standing off across the parking lot as paramedics tended to both the boys wounds. She watched Billy carefully, making sure that he was attended to properly.

"Maria," Sherlock's voice brought her out of her trace a she turned to look at him. "You did well. After we go home we'll draw our picture sending friend's attention to this and see what they say."

Maria silently agreed, looking up to see Billy pushing off paramedics and looking straight at her. Those lost puppy dog brown eyes staring straight at her. Billy hopped down from the ambulance and ran over to Maria, who took a few steps forwards to meet him, and slowed down only so to not knock her off her feet when he collided with her and hugged her tightly, his face pressed into her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him firmly.

"Thank-you for saving my friend and me…" He said, his voice muffled by her shoulder. She smiled and pressed her face into the young boy's hair.

"Just promise you'll stay out of trouble?" Maria asked pulling away to look at him and push his hair off his forehead.

"Promises are rules though, and some rules are made to be broken." He said with a grin. Maria had to laugh quietly.

"That's right, but in this case, you stay safe you hear?" She said before pulling out a slip of paper from her top pocket. "Take this. If you ever need me, I'm always here to listen…" She said handing it to the boy, who clutched onto it.

"Goodbye Maria." He said before turning and walking back over to Alex and paramedics. Maria watched him go before Sherlock stepped up beside her. She looked at him, the sadness in her eyes before she looked back towards Billy. Sherlock thought for a moment.

"The boys an orphan right? Maybe, after all this is over, the boy could come and stay with us-"

Maria didn't let him finish. She'd already engulfed him in a hug to which he responded by hugging her back. She pulled back after a moment and cast one last look upon the boys.

"Let's head home."


	29. Second Trial

Sorry about the delay on this chapter, I wrote a version of it then I didn't like it and ended up rewriting the entire chapter again. I've been extremely busy lately and haven't had time, nor the effort to write much. I'm good now though, and I'm going to get ahead, as best I can so I can just upload during my exams, which are coming up very soon.

Cheers Steps.

* * *

Chapter 29; Second Trial

Maria woke the next morning to find herself, not in her own bed. It took her a few more blinks for her to figure out she was somehow in Sherlock's bed. She sat up suddenly, her eyes locking onto the man sitting in the corner on a chair.

"What am I doing here?" Maria asked, throwing the covers off herself as Sherlock looked around at her.

"I needed you near to think, so I brought you in here," He said casually, pulling the iPhone out of his pocket, flicking it unlocked, the locking it again and putting it away. "We need to get going, and soon, get dressed." He said. "We have a new picture from our mysterious friend and the sooner we get there and search, the better." He said before flying from the room almost in his haste. Maria rolled her eyes and kicked herself out of bed to follow after the man.

An hour later, Maria and Sherlock were standing outside the military base, Detective Lestrade beside them.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Lestrade asked looking at them. Maria nodded before Sherlock headed straight for the gate. There they were quickly stopped by an officer, before they could enter.

"Who are you people?" He demanded.

"I'm Sherlock Holmes and this is Doctor Maron and Inspector Lestrade, we require access to this military base, we believe there's been something planted in one of your buildings."

"I'm afraid we can't let you in."

Maria looked at the man with her ice cold blue eyes.

"What's your rank?" She asked.

"Lieutenant," He replied curtly. Maria frowned slightly before turning to look at all the men beyond the gate who had stopped to watch them. She glanced at Sherlock before turning back to the men.

"Attention!" Maria cried and half the men snapped into position, the other half staring at her like she was daft.

"I think you need to train your boys a little better. They should respond much faster to orders of their higher ranks. My name is also **_Captain_** Maria Maron, Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers. You want more proof?" She asked turning back to the lieutenant pulling out her purse. "There's my ID. Now I require you to shove off and let us save some lives while we still can."

"Y-Yes ma'am." The lieutenant stuttered before running off, probably to go tell higher ranks. Maria put her purse back in her pocket and turned to Lestrade and Sherlock.

"I haven't pulled rank in ages that felt good." She said before looking over at the men. "At ease gentlemen." She gave them a gentle smile before turning back to Sherlock and Lestrade as another officer strode towards them.

"It can't be…" Maria muttered under her breath before she grinned widely. "Reggie!" She squealed running over to hug the man tightly.

"Maria Maron!" He said hugging her back with enthusiasm enough to pick her up and swing her around like a doll. Lestrade couldn't help but notice the nerve that twitched in Sherlock's jaw, like as if he was clenching it. Reggie put Maria back on her feet then proceeded to address the men.

"Maria and I go way back, we were mates in med school," Reggie said with a strong Australian accent. "Now can I ask what you think is going on here, I'm not running a bloody carnival for the yard." He said turning to Lestrade who stiffened slightly.

"Reggie, this is DI Lestrade and Sherlock Holmes, we need to get into one of the rooms here, um, I think it's a mess hall. It's hard to explain, show him the picture Sherlock." Maria said. Sherlock obliged and flashed the phone to the man before withdrawing it back into his pocket. Maria glanced at him.

"I know that hall, I'll escort you personally," He said, turning a charming smile onto Maria before offering her his arm. Maria laughed and took it as the gate opened to allow them in and they headed off walking. Sherlock was quick to follow after them with Lestrade in tow. While they walked, painfully slowly for Sherlock, Reggie and Maria caught up with each-other. Sherlock found himself grinding his teeth ever so slightly as he listened to her laughter at this man's apparent humour which he himself did not find amusing to say the least. Lestrade looked at Sherlock out of the corner of his eye. Now he wasn't one for making deductions but he couldn't help but notice.

"Sherlock…Are you jealous?" He asked in an undertone to the taller man, the two in front blissfully in their own little world. Sherlock turned on Lestrade quickly.

"I don't get jealous." He snapped too quickly to be believable. "I don't feel as a general rule."

"You do when it comes to her," Lestrade shot back as they stopped in front of a building.

"What are you two muttering about back there?" Maria asked curiously, releasing Reggie's arm so he could open the door for them.

"Nothing," Sherlock replied, barging past them both and into the mess hall as Reggie turned on the lights. Sherlock went straight to the nearest bench and began examining. Lestrade waited outside the door as Maria came up to stand beside Reggie. He turned to her.

"So I was wondering Maria, if you're not busy tonight, maybe we could catch up and have a drink or something?"

BANG.

They all jumped at the sound and looked around to find its source; seeing Sherlock standing next to a chair, which had obviously been thrown over.

"Oops." Sherlock said, almost sarcastically as he eyed off Reggie. "But I'm afraid Doctor Maron is already taken for tonight."

"Since when?" Maria asked incredulously.

"Since now." He said firmly, his eyes meeting hers for a moment before he turned and proceeded to look under the table. Maria frowned. She'd seen him like this once before.

"Reggie, show Lestrade the security camera data please, just in case." Maria asked and Reggie understood that she wanted a moment alone with Sherlock and he left, closing the door behind himself. Maria walked over to Sherlock and leant against the table opposite him.

"There's no need to be jealous Sherlock," Maria said and Sherlock reacted immediately, like a snake being provoked. He stood up to his full height facing her, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"I am not jealous of that man. He knows nothing outside of being a brainless warrior who throws himself into battle without a second thought."

"And am I like that too?" Maria demanded before taking a step forwards when he paused.

"No. You know how to think. Why can't people think?"

"It's just a drink Sherlock."

"A drink that he intends to make much more. Oh Maria look at him. Unmarried and probably heading towards a down spiralling midlife crisis and went you showed no real romantic connection to me in that moment of meeting him, he took that to mean your available. He only looking for a one night stand in a woman he thinks he can easily convince back to his place after a few drinks."

"And you think I would be that woman."

"I've seen you after a couple of drinks Maria, believe me, you are that woman and he knows it and intends to take advantage of it."

Maria frowned again. "There's still no reason to be jealous."

"I told you, I'm not jealous. I know where I stand." Sherlock said defiantly, causing Maria to sigh. She pushed herself off the table and grabbed the front of his shirt to pull him down to kiss her. He smirked and pulled her into him. She wrapped her arms around him and was surprised to find his lips move down to the base of her neck.

"Sherlock?

Pain and shock shot through her like wild fire from the point of origin, the place where Sherlock had his lips. She let out a small cry of alarm before she shoved him away hard. He hand flew to her neck as he braced himself against the table with a smirk of triumph.

"Did you just bite me?"

"I believe it's called a hickey. You leave them on your better half as a sign of affection, no?" Sherlock said before pushing himself to stand. "Like to see Reggie flirt with you now."

"I'm honestly going to kill you…" Maria said, shaking her head in disbelief at his actions, but the damage was done and it was quite visible too. "I'm going to bloody kill you and leave you on a curb somewhere…maybe Cardiff…" She added and he chuckled softly then motioned at the table behind him.

"Tell me what you see."

Maria grumbled softly and lowered her hand from her neck and turned her eyes down to the table top.

"Nothing, no scratches, no sign of anything really, it's a very clean table." She answered, glancing at him.

"Only?" He pressed, still grinning.

"Only…this part of the table, it's cleaner, it's been wiped way more thoroughly than the rest of the table, spotless in fact the rest is kinda shotty at best, and Mrs Hudson would have a fit if she saw this."

If it was possible, Sherlock's grin became even wider at her deduction.

"And that, dear Maria, is because…" He ran over to the light switch near the door, skidding the last two feet before flicking the light off. "…They needed to work harder to rub the ink off."

Maria's eyes widened. Where once had been a clean table, now an entire message was written in front of her in invisible ink.

"It's in some sort of code." She instantly realised, pulling out her phone and taking a picture of the message quickly. "We figure out the code…"

"We figure out what this person is hiding." He finished with a grin, flicking the lights on again and coming back over to her side.

"You really are fantastic." She praised with a small grin. He smiled back before taking her hand.

"We should go pick up Lestrade then head home, this code needs to be figured out as soon as possible." He said before leading her to the door.


	30. Maria's Lullaby

Chapter 30; Maria's Lullaby

Despite Sherlock warning her against it, Maria had agreed to go out with Reggie tonight for a drink and a proper catch up. She put on her favourite green top and a pair of old jeans and walked out into the living room to find her coat over the back of the chair. Sherlock was facing out the window, his violin in hand tuning it.

"Shouldn't you be working on that code?" Maria teased, picking up her coat and throwing it on as he turned to her and gave her a raised eyebrow.

"This will help me think. Before you go, tell me what we know."

"We know that the letter is written in some sort of code and was on a table in a mess hall in invisible ink." She said and he frowned slightly.

"Maria I think your skills need some work. The letter was put in plain sight but anyone else who stumbled across it in the dark wouldn't think much of it, just an officer playing a prank or something but the recipient would know better. They would also have to know how to find it. And you noticed that the table had been scrubbed a good deal cleaner in that one point, a few times, meaning that letters have been passed back and forth in this fashion many times. From this we can conclude that two or more someone's with access to the area outside of meal times are writing notes to each-other. But to what purpose?"

"I can understand the significance of using ink, much easier to hide the evidence, meaning that these people have something to hide. I mean to know the letter was there they would have to use the spot regularly. Anyone else wouldn't notice the slight bump in a table like that, where they place trays and such like that all the time but the recipient would recognise the bumps and realise there was a message, and come back after the mess hall way closed for the night to read the message- and hang on a minute!" Maria said, cutting herself off with a mad look at Holmes. "I know what you're doing. You're trying to delay me." She said pointing her finger at him before huffing and heading to the door.

"Be back before ten!" Sherlock called after her.

"Yes mother hen!" Maria cried back with a small laugh before she left.

Hours later Maria returned to the apartment, to find Sherlock almost in the exact same position she had left him in. Only now the blank sheets in front of him were written all over, like he was composing again.

"I'm home." She announced and he turned to look at her.

"What's wrong Maria?" Sherlock asked, seeing her expression. He put down his violin and walked over to her as she dropped her coat and flung herself into his arms.

"You were right, you're always right," She said, clinging onto him, burying her face into his shoulder. He hugged her back gently. He didn't need to ask what had happened and it only made him clutch her closer.

"I have you Maria it's alright…" he murmured as he felt her shake slightly in his arms. "Tell you what, make yourself comfy and I'll play you something." He bargained, patting her hair gently. He felt her nod slowly and he pulled away and guided her over to her chair which she proceeded to curl up into as he retrieved his violin. He began playing a sad, soft tune. It was unexpected to say the least, any reasonable person would expect him to play something happy, but no, he knew Maria needed something familiar, not falsely happy to lift her spirits.

"This tune…" She murmured softly.

"Sing." Sherlock said to her and so she did, and he joined in softly.

"Sleep sweet my dark angel; night will carry away the lies.

Reveal to me your vicious desires and fall into the void at last.

Sweet dreams and hushed voices, whispered between lovers and the lost.

Wanders finding their way home from winding trails of time.

Treasured memories that you can't find again, hold them close or just forget.

Twisted roads that lead to the end and a scar that's yet to be healed.

Sleep sweet my dark angel, no regrets for the past.

Nightmares in a cold sweat, how can you live again?

Breaking fast and falling far, you are not a golden star.

Hiding deep within your shell, you've created your own hell."

Somehow they managed to get it perfectly in time, as if they had been practising for years and years. After the final note drifted off into silence, they looked at each other, eyes meeting.

"You remembered after all this time, that silly little song I wrote all those years ago." Maria said with a smile up at the man who smiled back.

"I never forgot it, anything that was to do with you got stored away in my mind. Like how many freckles there are on your face and all the hues of red your hair manages to have…" He drifted off realising he'd never told her that he cared about things like that when it came to her. They were important enough for him to remember rather than the solar system.

"Play me something else…" Maria requested, breaking the silence. Sherlock looked at her before down at the music sheets he'd been writing on earlier. He supposed he could play that for her…

Placing his bow back on his violin he turned to her and began to play. The notes flowed easily as if he had practised this moment over and over tenfold, which was almost true. Any moment she had been absent from the house, he had taken chance to compose this for her, since the moment she had arrived back in London. Regardless, he continued to play the sweet melody, letting it flow over them both, capturing the emotions he never showed to anyone but her. As the song drew to its close, Sherlock noticed the look on Maria's face and found himself smiling slightly. He struck the final chord and lowered his bow.

"What was that called?" Maria asked, her eyes alight. It was a strange thing how music could play so heavily on her emotions and how one small piece of music could lift her spirits so much. He looked at her for a moment, wondering if he should lie but the truth came out anyway.

"It's your song. Maria's Lullaby."

"You…wrote me a song?" Maria questioned softly and he nodded, looking away as if slightly embarrassed.

"It's not entirely finished yet, still some changes to be mad-" He was cut off by the woman suddenly in his arms hugging him tightly.

You're so adorable…" She gushed taking his face in her hands gently. She smiled then looked down at the sheet music and her smile faded.

"Maria?"

"The code was a series of dots and lines…" She said quietly before reaching out and turning the music sheet sideways making the lines of notes run vertical. She whipped out her phone and pulled up the picture she'd taken of the note on the table, placing it beside the sheet of paper on the stand.

"Oh that is brilliant. Using the lines of music notes to dictate a code." Sherlock said before kissing Maria suddenly. "Ah and they wonder why I keep you around." He said before putting his violin down and picking up the phone and the music sheet.

"I've got it from here; I know your ability to read music is as poor as your fashion sense is sometimes." At the scoffing sound she made he continued. "You really thought it would be a good idea to wear that low cut shirt with those jeans that show off your legs and behind really well to a man I warned you was trying to take advantage of you." He moved off into the kitchen, into the light where he could begin deciphering the code.

"Since when do you give fashion advice?" Maria asked following after him.

"Since now."

"You really think I look good in these jeans?"

"They flatter you now can I continue with this?" He asked, clearly starting to get impatient.

"Be my guest."


	31. Realisation

We're on the final stretch! If everything goes according to how I have it mapped out in my head there should only be a few more chapters of this before it is complete! But for now, enjoy the conclusion to this case!

* * *

Chapter 31; Realisation

"I'VE GOT IT!"

The shout woke Maria from her pleasant slumber. She shot up in bed, her head spinning for a moment and she attempted to stand up only to collapse in a heap in front of the door. Sherlock came bursting in only to trip over Maria on the floor.  
"What's the shouting about, are we under attack?" Maria asked dumbly as Sherlock laughed.

"No, but I have the code to solve our letter." He said, getting to his feet and pulling her up. He steered her out to the kitchen and sat her down in front of the sheets and sheets of paper all covered with writing. He kept a hold on her shoulders as she picked up the nearest piece of paper. Her tired mind took in a few of the first lines before she threw down the paper.

"Tea first…" Maria said looking at him. He obliged and only after having woken up fully, or as close as she was going to get this early in the morning, did she dive into reading his pages of figuring out the code.

"So…we have a traitor among the soldiers…." Maria said slowly, after reading the note, turning her head to look at Sherlock who grinned. "Leaking information, that's a serious crime."

"Now, all we need to do is find out our mystery leaker." Sherlock said, sounding almost giddy with excitement from proving how clever he was. Maria rolled her eyes at him before standing up.

"I suppose that means we've got to tell the General at the base." She said and Sherlock was quick to grab her coat and try and put it on her.

"I have to get dressed first!" She cried to the ecstatic man as she twisted away from him with a laugh. Ten minutes later they were in a cab on the way back to the army base. Maria kept her eyes out the window, watching London whizz by. A seat separated them but they held hands across the empty space. They pulled up in front of the base and got out, dropping each-others hand. Sherlock immediately went into work mode, flicking his collar up.

"Oh don't do that…" Maria said digging her hands into her pockets, turning her head to look at him. With her hair swept up into a pony tail, and the way her coat fluttered around her ankles, Sherlock couldn't deny she looked cool. She snapped her fingers in front of his face and he blinked, not realising he'd been staring.

"Don't do what?" He asked, acting as if his brain hadn't just turned off.

"You with your high cheekbones and turning your collar up because you think it makes you look cool," She said with a smirk before setting off to head for the front gate again. Sherlock blinked after her, a bemused expression on his face.

"I don't do that…" He muttered before trailing after her.

Several interviews and one annoyed Sherlock later they turned up almost nothing.

"Well…" Maria said as the person they'd just been questioning walked out of the room they'd been given for their work. "That turned up a load of nothing."

"We still have one more person to interview," Sherlock said, but she could hear the tone in his voice. He knew that none of the people they had interviewed were guilty.

"Who's left?"

"Your friend Reggie." Sherlock said before opening the door. He stepped out and looked around before turning back to her. "He's gone; he was here a minute ago…" Sherlock muttered to himself turning on the spot. Maria came to stand beside him. She looked at the men sitting outside, clearly waiting for an answer to their summons. Maria looked at them.

"Fan out and find Reggie, he can't have gone far." She ordered and they jumped up and ran off to search.

"Only the guilty run." Sherlock said quietly, looking down at Maria who was wearing that stone cold mask she only wore when she was hiding her true emotions. She didn't answer and simply pulled out her gun from the back of her jeans.

"Just find him." She ordered and Sherlock nodded, not wanting to argue right now, before he ran off to go look. After he'd left, Maria stood there for a few moments thinking it through in her head. She knew Reggie, she knew him better than most. Then it struck her and she was off running. She came to a stop in front of the hall where the notes had been left. He was a sentimental fool and he knew only she would find him here. She pushed open the door and stepped in.

"Maria." Reggie said from the table clear across the room as the door slammed shut behind her.

"I knew you'd be here..." She said walking forwards slowly. Reggie stood and turned to face her as she raised her weapon and trained it on him. "You're breakin' my heart Reggie." She said, mimicking for a moment his Australian accent. He smirked.  
"Always knew you'd sound sexy with that kinda of accent. Londoner doesn't suit you. You're a wild girl, a free girl. Grew up on a farm with all the animals," He said with a small smirk and a laugh. "I coulda taken you to Australia Maria, with all that money. You'd love it there, just a great big stretch of open plains and all that freedom."

"How much did that offer you?"

"Enough to move back to Australia and live my life out happily." Reggie said taking a step towards her, but she raised her free hand in warning. He wasn't stupid enough to test her patience.

"I coulda shared it with you ya know." He said, looking at her. "But then again, you always had your eyes only on the one man but he never looked twice at you did he?"

"He has now." Maria shot back spitefully.

"Hasn't told you he loves you has he though?" Reggie said, hitting the nail on the head. He watched Maria's face fall slightly and he knew he'd struck gold. "How do you even know he loves you? Maybe he's just like every guy who ever took an interest in you, all he wants you for is some quick fun and then you're on your own again."

"You're wrong."

"Am I just?"

"You don't know him, like I know him." Maria said softly, her gun arm remaining steady, whist the rest of her trembled. "He's not that kind of man."

"Tell me what you want to say to him then."

"I love you. I love you with all my heart…" She said softly and to her surprise Reggie grinned. She was about to question him when she heard the sound of someone slamming the door shut. She whipped around to see Sherlock running in the opposite direction out of the window. He mind went into panic mode.

_'He must have come in at the wrong moment and heard me say those cursed few lines! And thought I meant them to Reggie! Maria you idiot!'_

She whirled around to point her weapon at Reggie again before he could jump her in her moment of weakness. She backed up to the door and pulled it open without looking. An officer came running at the sight of Maria in the doorway. She quickly told him to take Reggie into custody before she turned and looked around for any sign of Sherlock. She had a general idea of which direction he had gone, and she set off in it, looking for the genius.


End file.
